Prevalence of Hepatitis D virus antibodies in Hepatitis B patients treated at tertiary care unit at Jabalpur Central India

Hepatitis Delta virus (HDV) infection amongst Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infected patients increases morbidity and mortality. The prevalence varies temporally and spatially. The present study aimed to evaluate the HDV prevalence in central India. Samples received from January 2018 to December 2019 were tested for viral hepatitis markers. Randomly picked 372 HBsAg positive samples were tested for the presence of HDV total antibodies using ELISA, of these 8 were found positive. This study for the first-time documents presence of HDV with 2.1% prevalence from central India. We recommend screening for better patient management and bringing down the disease burden.