title: Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis D virus infection among injecting drug users with and without human immunodeficiency virus infection in Taiwan.
abstract: An outbreak of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection occurred among injecting drug users (IDU) in Taiwan between 2003 and 2006, when an extremely high prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was also detected. To determine whether clusters of hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection occurred in this outbreak, 4 groups of subjects were studied: group 1, HIV-infected IDU (n = 904); group 2, HIV-infected non-IDU (n = 880); group 3, HIV-uninfected IDU (n = 211); and group 4, HIV-uninfected non-IDU (n = 1,928). The seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) was 19.8%, 18.4%, 17.1%, and 6.7%, and HDV seroprevalence among HBV carriers was 75.4%, 9.3%, 66.7%, and 2.3%, for groups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Ninety-nine of 151 (65.6%) HDV-seropositive IDU had HDV viremia: 5 were infected with HDV genotype I, 41 with genotype II, 51 with genotype IV, and 2 with genotypes II and IV. In the phylogenetic analysis, only one cluster of 4 strains within the HDV genotype II was identified. Among patients with HCV viremia, a unique cluster within genotype 1a was observed; yet, patients within this cluster did not overlap with those observed in the HDV phylogenetic analysis. In summary, although IDU had a significantly higher HDV seroprevalence, molecular epidemiologic investigations did not support that HDV was introduced at the same time as HCV among IDU.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences and Medical Biotechnology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Sui-Yuan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Chia-Ling
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wei-Shin
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Wen-Chun
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chi-Ying
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Cheng-Hsin
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yi-Chin
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Shu-Fang
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Mao-Yuan
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wang-Huei
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.forename: Chien-Ching
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Shan-Chwen
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015897:Comorbidity; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D055030:Drug Users; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications; D003699:Hepatitis D / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D003698:Hepatitis Delta Virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications*; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral