[The prevalence and clinical characteristics of hepatitis-delta infection in Korea].
OBJECTIVE
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.
Jeong
Sook-Hyang
SH
Department of Internal Medicine, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Korea. jsh@kcch.re.kr
Kim
Jung Min
JM
Ahn
Heui June
HJ
Park
Myung Joon
MJ
Paik
Kwang Hyun
KH
Choi
Won
W
Kim
Jin
J
Han
Chul Joo
CJ
Kim
Yoo Cheoul
YC
Lee
Jhin Oh
JO
Hong
Young-Joon
YJ
Park
Hyo Young
HY
Jeong
Ha Hyun
HH
Yoon
Mi-Yong
MY
Lee
Myungjin
M
Lee
Kee-Ho
KH
D000328:Adult; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D003699:Hepatitis D / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D003698:Hepatitis Delta Virus / Q000276:immunology; D035923:Hepatitis delta Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D035923:Hepatitis delta Antigens