Prevalence of hepatitis D virus in blood donors with different hepatitis B virus markers of infection

Abstract

Hepatitis D virus (HDV) is a satellite agent that requires the auxiliary function of hepatitis B virus (HBV) for its assembly and transmission; however, it has been shown that HDV can assemble infectious particles by subverting the envelope proteins of viruses other than HBV. HDV affects 15–20 million of chronic HBV carriers worldwide. Nevertheless, recent studies suggest that the prevalence of HDV is at least three-fold higher than previous estimations.