Prevalence of Hepatitis Delta Virus in Eastern Province Mongolia = Prevalence of Hepatitis Delta Virus in Eastern Province Mongolia

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Aims: Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a serious cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of HDV infection among patients positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) living in the Dornod province, which is in Eastern Mongolia.
Methods: Forty three HBsAg-positive subjects were tested for antibody to HDV (anti-HDV) by radioimmunoassay. All patients were tests for ALT (0-45 u/l). Anti-HDV-positive individuals were examined to determine HDV-RNA level by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Results: Of all patients, 19 were men (68.1%) and 24 were women (31.9%). The mean age was 42.8 ± 7.5 (between 19 and 64 years). Anti-HDV was positive in 73% of the patients (31/43). Among the 31 anti-HDV-positive patients, all were checked for HDV RNA and 100% were found positive (31/31). Mean HDVRNA level was 1684574 IU/ml. Chronic HDV infection rate was therefore present in at least 73% of the whole study group (31/42). There were 23 patients with cirrhosis (54%) in the study group. Anti-HDV seroprevalence and HDV RNA presence were higher in those with cirrhosis (29/93%). HDV-RNA-positive patients had significantly higher ALT (94 U/L) levels when compared to HDV-RNA-negative patients.
Conclusions: Our study showed a higher prevalence of hepatitis delta virus infection in HBsAg positive patients suggests that hepatitis delta virus infection increases the severity of chronic hepatitis B virus infection in the Eastern (Dornod province) Mongolia.