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Is Slovakia Almost a Hepatitis D Free Country?
Background: It is assumed that the prevalence of hepatitis D in HBsAg-positive individuals reaches 4.5–13% in the world and on average about 3% in Europe. Data from several European countries, including Slovakia, are missing or are from an older period. Methods: We analyzed all available data on hep...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10459979/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37632037 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v15081695 |
Sumario: | Background: It is assumed that the prevalence of hepatitis D in HBsAg-positive individuals reaches 4.5–13% in the world and on average about 3% in Europe. Data from several European countries, including Slovakia, are missing or are from an older period. Methods: We analyzed all available data on hepatitis D from Slovakia, including reports from the Slovak Public Health Authority and the results of one prospective study, and three smaller surveys. The determination of anti-HDV IgG and IgM antibodies and/or HDV RNA was used to detect hepatitis D. Results: In the years 2005–2022, no confirmed case of acute or chronic HDV infection was reported in Slovakia. The presented survey includes a total of 343 patients, of which 126 were asymptomatic HBsAg carriers, 33 acute hepatitis B, and 184 chronic hepatitis B cases. In a recent prospective study of 206 HBsAg-positive patients who were completely serologically and virologically examined for hepatitis B and D, only 1 anti-HDV IgG-positive and no anti-HDV IgM or HDV RNA-positive cases were detected. In other smaller surveys, two anti-HDV IgG-positive patients were found without the possibility of HDV RNA confirmation. In total, only 3 of 329 HBsAg-positive patients (0.91%) tested positive for anti-HDV IgG antibodies, and none of 220 tested positive for HDV RNA. Conclusion: The available data show that Slovakia is one of the countries with a very low prevalence of HDV infection, reaching less than 1% in HBsAg-positive patients. Routine testing for hepatitis D is lacking in Slovakia, and therefore it is necessary to implement testing of all HBsAg-positive individuals according to international recommendations. |
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