title: What is the real prevalence of the D virus infection in chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis in Romania?
abstract: Virus D hepatitis continues to represent a public health problem in the south-eastern European countries, but the spread of the D virus infection in Romania is not completely elucidated. The paper proposes to assess the prevalence of the hepatitis D virus infection in patients with HBsAg-positive chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis in Romania. A number of 219 patients with chronic hepatitis and 168 with liver cirrhosis, all testing positive for HBsAg were studied. Viral markers were determined by immunoenzymatic methods. In HBsAg-positive chronic hepatitis the prevalence of the D virus was 37.9 % and in liver cirrhosis 51.19%. The great majority of the cases infected with hepatitis B virus were HBeAg-negative. These findings situate Romania among countries with a high prevalence of the hepatitis D virus infection, but which is decreasing as compared to the data communicated by previous reports.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D019701:Hepatitis D, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012383:Romania / Q000453:epidemiology