What is the real prevalence of the D virus infection in chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis in Romania?

Virus D hepatitis continues to represent a public health problem in the south-eastern European countries, but the spread of the D virus infection in Romania is not completely elucidated. The paper proposes to assess the prevalence of the hepatitis D virus infection in patients with HBsAg-positive chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis in Romania. A number of 219 patients with chronic hepatitis and 168 with liver cirrhosis, all testing positive for HBsAg were studied. Viral markers were determined by immunoenzymatic methods. In HBsAg-positive chronic hepatitis the prevalence of the D virus was 37.9 % and in liver cirrhosis 51.19%. The great majority of the cases infected with hepatitis B virus were HBeAg-negative. These findings situate Romania among countries with a high prevalence of the hepatitis D virus infection, but which is decreasing as compared to the data communicated by previous reports.