Evaluation of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection in blood donors in western Turkey

Abstract Background Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infections are potentially dangerous complications of transfusion therapy. Objective The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HDV markers examined by serological and molecular methods in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-reactive sera among blood donors. Materials and methods Samples from 88 HBsAg-reactive blood donors were investigated for total anti-delta antibody (anti-HDV) and HDV-RNA between April 2010 and February 2011. HBsAg screening tests were performed by “microparticle enzyme immunoassay” (MEIA) method using the AxSYM system (Abbott Laboratories, USA), and total anti-delta antibody tests were performed by MEIA method using the Alisei system (Radim, Italy). HDV-RNA was quantified using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Viral nucleic acid isolation system (Anatolia Geneworks) was used with Bosphore HDV quantification kit. Results HBsAg reactivity was determined as 1% (124/12.423) among blood donors as a whole. Eighty-eight of these 124 samples were investigated further for HDV. Three (3.4%) of the 88 HBsAg-reactive serum samples were total anti-delta antibody-reactive. Of the 3 anti-HDV-reactive sera, 2 were reactive for HDV-RNA. Therefore, HDV-RNA reactivity was determined as 2.3% (2/88) in HBsAg-reactive donors as a whole. The 2 HDV-RNA-reactive donors were brothers. Conclusions Investigation of HDV is important because HBV infection is endemic in Turkey. Intrafamilial transmission is important in HDV transmission.