Seroprevalence of hepatitis delta virus infection among subjects with underlying hepatic diseases in Chennai, southern India.
Four hundred million people are carriers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) worldwide and approximately 5% of these are reportedly positive for hepatitis delta virus (HDV). Several reports indicate a declining trend in the occurrence of HDV infection in the north of tropical India. To our knowledge, no study has been conducted to evaluate whether a similar epidemiological change is occurring in southern India. Therefore we evaluated the seroprevalence of HDV among 153 individuals with HBV-related liver diseases in Chennai, and assessed any change in epidemiological pattern by comparing the results with seroprevalence figures reported previously. Of the 153 patients screened, nine (5.9%) were reactive to anti-delta antibodies, six (3.9%) presented an evidence of past infection (IgG anti-delta positive) and three (2.0%) showed anti-HDV IgM, suggestive of recent HDV infection. Alanine transaminase elevation was not significant in HDV-associated infection compared with HBV alone-infected acute viral hepatitis (AVH) (P=0.82) and chronic liver disease (P=0.77) patients. The anti-HDV positivity in AVH was considerably low (6.6%), compared with previous Indian reports varying from 10.7% to >30%. HDV infection was relatively low and seems to play a minor determining factor of liver diseases in the tropical south Indian population.
Saravanan
Shanmugam
S
Indian Council of Medical Research Referral Centre for Chronic Hepatitis and Molecular Virology, Department of Microbiology, University of Madras, Chennai 600 113, India.
Velu
Vijayakumar
V
Kumarasamy
Nagalingeswaran
N
Shankar
Esaki Muthu
EM
Nandakumar
Subhadra
S
Murugavel
Kailapuri Gangatharan
KG
Balakrishnan
Pachamuthu
P
Solomon
Suniti
S
Thyagarajan
Sadras Panchatcharam
SP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003699:Hepatitis D / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003698:Hepatitis Delta Virus / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D035923:Hepatitis delta Antigens / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D035923:Hepatitis delta Antigens; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D000410:Alanine Transaminase