TY - JOUR T1 - HDV infection rates in northern Vietnam AU - Binh, Mai Thanh AU - Hoan, Nghiem Xuan AU - Tong, Hoang Van AU - Giang, Dao Phuong AU - Sy, Bui Tien AU - Toan, Nguyen Linh AU - Song, Le Huu AU - Bang, Mai Hong AU - Wedemeyer, Heiner AU - Meyer, Christian G. AU - Kremsner, Peter G. AU - Bock, Thomas AU - Velavan, Thirumalaisamy P. AB - Hepatitis D caused by the hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a serious health problem in many regions of the world. A total of 546 HBV-infected patients were enrolled from 2013 to 2015 and classified clinically into the subgroups of chronic hepatitis B (CHB, n = 191), liver cirrhosis (LC, n = 147) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, n = 208). The patients were screened for HDV-RNA by nested PCR assays. HDV genotypes were assessed by direct sequencing, followed by phylogenetic analysis. HDV-RNA was identified in 13% (71/546) of HBV-infected patients. The highest HDV prevalence was found in the LC group (19.7%), followed by the HCC (12%) and CHB (8.9%) groups (P = 0.017). HDV/HBV coinfections were significantly associated with a rather unfavourable clinical outcome, in particular with LC development compared to HBV monoinfection. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that the genotype HDV1 was, with a prevalence of 91%, by far the most common genotype in Vietnam, followed by HDV2 with 9%. Other HDV genotypes were not observed. In accordance with previous data obtained a decade ago, our results confirm a continuing high prevalence of HDV infection in hepatitis B patients in northern Vietnam with the HDV1 genotype still being the predominant genotype. HDV nucleic acid testing to minimize the associated risk should be considered. KW - 610 Medizin und Gesundheit PY - 2018 LA - eng PB - Robert Koch-Institut JO - Scientific Reports VL - 8 IS - 8047 SP - 1 EP - 7 DO - 10.1038/s41598-018-26446-w ER -