Seroprevalence of Hepatitis D Virus in Northern Cyprus

Background: Infection caused by the hepatitis delta virus (HDV), a defective virus, is among the important viral infections. This virus can only cause infection in the presence of the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Determining the prevalence of HDV in the general population, including risk groups, and estimating the relative contribution of HDV to liver disease development is critical to guide clinical care and strategies. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of HDV in HBsAg (hepatitis B surface antigen)-positive patients diagnosed in a university hospital in Northern Cyprus. Methods: Four hundred serum samples with only HBsAg positivity from patients admitted to our hospital between 2016 and 2022 were analyzed in our study. Samples were removed from -80°C retrospectively, and HDV-Ag and HDV-Ab tests were performed by the manual enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method following the manufacturer's recommendations. Hepatitis delta virus RNA levels in HDV-Ag and/or HDV-Ab positive serum samples were quantitated by the in-house real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. Results: The HDV-Ab positivity rate was determined to be 1.3% (5/400). All patients were negative for HDV-Ag, and HDV RNA was not detected in any of the HDV-Ab positive patients. Conclusions: Based on the data obtained from our study, it was concluded that HDV seropositivity in HBsAg-positive patients is low in our country.