Hepatitis D virus infection in patients with hepatitis B virus occult infection

Abstract

Aguilera et al. have clearly confirmed the usefulness of looking for hepatitis D virus (HDV) in patients showing HBsAg reactivity in serum. However, Ponzetto et al. ,have accurately emphasized the fact that HDV infection may also occur even in the absence of HBsAg detection in serum,as previously showed both in animal models, as well as in humans. Moreover, such results have been recently supported by the dazzling discovery that HDV might be transmitted from infected hepatocytes to descendent cells in spite of the absence of a concomitant HBV infection..