title: Increasing prevalence of HDV/HBV infection over 15 years in France.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In France, there are no consistent data estimating hepatitis delta virus (HDV) prevalence in the general population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To better characterize HDV/HBV infection and its trends over a 15-years period from 1997 to 2011, we used data retrieved from the National Epidemiological Donors database including viral and demographic characteristics of all French HBV infected blood donors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Of the 39,911,011 donations collected over the 15 year-study-period, 6214 (1.56 in 10(4) donations) were confirmed positive for HBV from which 72.3% were tested for HDV antibodies (Ab). HDV viral load was performed using a real-time PCR assay on positive HDV Ab samples and HDV genotype determined for each positive viremic sample.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 4492 HBV donations, 89 (1.98%) were HDV Ab positive. After being stable around 1.1% from 1997 to 2005, this rate has continuously increased to reach 6.5% in 2010, before declining to 0.85% in 2011. Of the 61 investigated HDV Ab positive individuals, 22.9% were viremic with a viral load ranging from 10(4) to 9.8 × 10(7) copies mL(-1). Genotyping revealed 12 HDV-1, 1 HDV-6 and 1 HDV-7 in accordance with the geographical origin of individuals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Such a study gives unexpected features of HBV-HDV infection in the population of blood donors which is a priori, a healthy population. The increase of HDV prevalence mainly linked to migration of population from endemic countries, demonstrates that there is still no complete control of HBV infection and must encourage HBV vaccination campaigns and systematic screening for HDV in HBV-infected.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'expertise en Virologie, Centre National de Référence des hépatites virales B et C et du VIH en Transfusion, Institut National de la Transfusion Sanguine, Paris, France. Electronic address: aservant@ints.fr.
authors.forename: Annabelle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Servant-Delmas
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Bactériologie-Virologie-Hygiène, associé Centre National de Référence des hépatites virales B et C et Delta, Hôpital Avicenne, Bobigny, France.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Le Gal
authors.affiliation: Etablissement Français du Sang, Direction médicale, Saint Denis, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gallian
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Bactériologie-Virologie-Hygiène, associé Centre National de Référence des hépatites virales B et C et Delta, Hôpital Avicenne, Bobigny, France.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gordien
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'expertise en Virologie, Centre National de Référence des hépatites virales B et C et du VIH en Transfusion, Institut National de la Transfusion Sanguine, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Syria
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laperche
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D005838:Genotype; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003699:Hepatitis D / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003698:Hepatitis Delta Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019562:Viral Load; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies
keywords: France; HBV; HDV; Prevalence