Hepatitis delta virus in intravenous drug users in Kuala Lumpur

The hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is an RNA containing virus that requires hepatitis B virus (HBV) to supply the envelope proteins. HDV only infect man in the presence of HBV, either as a coinfection or as superinfection in HBV carriers. In the presence of hepatitis B infection, the HDV may cause more severe liver damage than that caused by the hepatitis B virus alone. HDV infection was studied in 44 HBsAg positive serum samples collected from male intravenous drug users sent for screening to the Blood Services Centre (BSC), Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) between 1990 and 1992. The majority (39) were in the 20 to 39 age group. The youngest was 19 years old and the oldest was 61 years old. There were 25 Malays, 13 Chinese, five Indians and one Albanian. Anti hepatitis delta antibody (Anti-HDV) was detected in 15 out of 44 (34%) of the drug addicts. These results shows an increased in delta infection in HBsAg positive intravenous drug addicts compared to the surveillance results in 1985 when no delta antibodies were detected, and the 1986 and 1989 surveillance which showed 17.8% and 20% delta antibody positivity respectively.