Delta agent (delta) was serially passaged to a second and third hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carrier chimpanzee, using as inoculum the peak delta antigen (delta Ag) serum of an animal previously infected with human serum. The characteristics of serially transmitted delta Ag were similar to those described in first-passage animals. It was consistently detected before the development of an...

Hepatitis delta is considered the most severe form of viral hepatitis, but variables associated with disease progression are poorly defined. This study aimed to identify risk factors associated with worse clinical outcome in patients with hepatitis delta and to develop a clinical score to determine their risk of experiencing liver-related morbidity or mortality. We followed 75 HBsAg-anti-HDV-po...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease in southern Italy. In the same area superinfection with the delta agent is endemic. To assess the prevalence of delta infection in a large population of patients with acute and chronic HBV related liver disease and to look for differential features among delta infected and uninfected subjects sera from 592 consecutive HBsAg posit...

Serologic markers for delta agent were evaluated in 39 patients with acute hepatitis B and clinical relapse within 30 days from the initial episode. Eighteen of the 39 patients (46%) had evidence of acute delta infection. Delta antigenaemia preceded the appearance of antibodies in seven of these 18 patients; delta antigenaemia occurred during the initial episode of illness and the appearance of...

Since the delta agent was first identified by Rizzetto and his colleagues in 1977 there has been much speculation regarding its nature and significance. The delta agent appears to be an RNA virus which is dependent on hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) for its replication (Rizzetto et al, 1980). Chronic HBsAg carriers appear to be most at risk of developing delta infection (Smedile et al, 1981...

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 i...

Chronic delta hepatitis (CDH) represents a severe form of chronic viral hepatitis, induced by the hepatitis delta virus (HDV) in conjunction with the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Delta hepatitis may lead to disease in humans through co-infection. The former leads to acute hepatitis which clinically can range from mild hepatitis to fulminant hepatitis and death. Severe or fulminant hepatitis is more...

ONE hundred and fifty-eight cases of hepatitis B have been detected among Dublin drugabusers from January to August 1981 during an epidemic which originated in 1980 and still continues. The mean age was 21 years and the male/female susceptibility to hepatitis B was the same. An unusually high proportion (29%) of a sample of 50 tested had the hepatitis B associated delta antigen in their serum a...

Hepatitis delta virus infection sometimes causes severe and fulminant hepatitis as a coinfection or superinfection along with the hepatitis B virus. To elucidate the underlying mechanism of injury caused by hepatitis delta virus, we examined whether two isoforms of the hepatitis delta antigen (HDAg) had any effect on five well defined intracellular signal transduction pathways: serum response f...