Hepatitis D, or delta, is not the most common form of hepatitis, but it is the most severe. Sufferers are at high risk of developing cirrhosis or liver cancer within a few years and may die if they do not receive a transplant in time. Another feature. The hepatitis D virus needs the hepatitis B virus to reproduce. Therefore, this disease is only present in people with chronic hepatitis B (for which there is treatment that can control the infection but not cure it). It is estimated that 5% of hepatitis B carriers also have hepatitis delta, meaning 15 to 20 million people worldwide.
In France, vaccination against hepatitis B and systematic blood donation screening have reduced the incidence of hepatitis D since the 1990s. “The challenge is that we need to systematically look at hepatitis D screening in patients with chronic hepatitis B. And it’s not…
Source: Le Figaro
