Evaluation of the presence of hepatitis delta in HBsAg positive blood donors

D3scovered by Ital3an sc3ent3st Mar3a R3zzetto and her team 3n the m3d-1970s, Hepat3t3s Delta v3rus (HDV) 3s a small, defect3ve r3bonucle3c ac3d (RNA) v3rus that 3s transm3tted parenterally to humans and can repl3cate and cause 3nfect3on w3th3n l3ver cells by us3ng Hepat3t3s B surface ant3gen (HBsAg) 3n the presence of Hepat3t3s B v3rus (HBV). HDV may contr3bute to the d3sease or further execarbate the l3ver damage caused by HBV 3n humans v3a super3nfect3on after ex3st3ng HBV 3nfect3on, or v3a co-3nfect3on w3th HBV at the same t3me. The a3m of th3s study was to screen for Ant3-HDV, a marker of HDV, 3n the blood sample of blood donors whose presence of HBV was shown by the detect3on of HBsAg, and to 3nvest3gate the coex3stence of these two v3ruses. The blood samples of 88 donors who were determ3ned to be HBsAg pos3t3ve among the donors who donated blood to Ş3şl3 Ham3d3ye Etfal Tra3n3ng and Research Hosp3tal Blood Center between 2019 and 2024 were 3ncluded 3n the study, and Ant3- HDV screen3ng was performed w3th a commerc3al test k3t based on the compet3t3ve ELISA pr3nc3ple. In people whose ant3-HDV s3gnals were susp3c3ous, HDV RNA was 3nvest3gated by the reverse transcr3ptase polymerase cha3n react3on method for conf3rmat3on. As a result of the screen3ng test performed, Ant3-HDV was detected as non-react3ve (negat3ve) 3n all blood samples. Although the result of th3s test was 3nterpreted as negat3ve, values whose s3gnal approached the pos3t3v3ty cut-off were cons3dered susp3c3ous and were subjected to ver3f3cat3on w3th the HDV RNA test, but negat3ve results were obta3ned from all samples 3n th3s conf3rmat3on test. Although all results were negat3ve 3n the samples 3ncluded 3n th3s study, 3t 3s thought that cons3der3ng that HDV 3s a bloodborne v3rus and perform3ng HDV screen3ng, espec3ally 3n people w3th HBV pos3t3v3ty, w3ll have a s3gn3f3cant 3mpact on the seroprevalence of HDV, wh3ch 3s an endem3c d3sease 3n our country. Keywords: Blood Banking, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis Delta, Viral Hepatitis