Korean J Hepatol.  2005 Mar;11(1):43-50.

The Prevalence and Clinical Characteristics of Hepatitis-delta Infection in Korea

• Jeong SH
• Kim JM
• Ahn HJ
• Park MJ
• Paik KH
• Choi W
• Kim J
• Han CJ
• Kim YC
• Lee JO
• Hong YJ
• Park HY
• Jeong HH
• Yoon MY
• Lee M
• Lee KH

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The prevalence of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection has been estimated as being approximately 5% among global HBsAg carriers. The anti-delta positive rate in Koreans had been reported as being 0.85% in 1985. While the prevalence of HBV has been decreased from nearly 10% to 5% during the past twenty years, there have been no more studies on the anti-delta prevalence in Koreans. The aim of this study was to estimate the anti-delta prevalence in Koreans and to study the clinical characteristics of anti-delta positive patients in a single center. METHODS: Serum anti-delta was measured in one hundred ninety four HBsAg-positive patients who were admitted to our hospital from February 2003 to August 2003. We checked the genotypes of the HBV in the anti-delta positive patients. The clinical features of the anti-delta positive patients were compared to those clinical features of the anti-delta negative patients from the aspect of age, gender, mode of transmission, the positivity of HBeAg and serum HBV DNA. RESULTS: Serum anti-delta was positive in seven patients among the 194 subjects, giving a 3.6% positive rate. Among these seven patients, six had hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the other one had cholangiocarcinoma. All of the anti-delta positive patients had the C genotype of HBV. The anti-delta positive patients showed significantly suppressed HBV DNA replication compared to the anti-delta negative patients. CONCLUSIONS: In Koreans, anti-delta was positive mainly in HCC patients with an approximate prevalence of 4%, and this rate has not changed much for the past twenty years. HBV DNA replication was suppressed by HDV infection.

Keyword

Hepatitis delta virus; Anti-delta antibody; Prevalence

MeSH Terms

Adult
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/virology
English Abstract
Female
Hepatitis Antibodies/analysis
Hepatitis D/complications/*epidemiology/immunology
Hepatitis Delta Virus/immunology
Hepatitis delta Antigens/analysis
Humans
Korea/epidemiology
Liver Neoplasms/virology
Male
Middle Aged
Prevalence