delta hepatitis is caused by a virus that only infects people who already have hepatitis b. the delta hepatitis virus (also known as hepatitis d or hdv) is an rna virus meaning that its genetic material is made up of ribonucleic acid. it is spread through exposure to contaminated blood especially with illicit intravenous drug use and by sexual contact. delta hepatitis can be acquired at the same time as acute hepatitis b. when this happens infected people are quite sick but more than 95% are eventually able to eliminate the viruses from their bodies. people who already have chronic hepatitis b can acquire delta hepatitis as well. this often causes severe inflammation of the liver and the viruses are less likely to be cleared. delta hepatitis makes chronic hepatitis b much worse. it increases the risk of complications especially cirrhosis which occurs in up to two-thirds of patients. there is no vaccine against delta hepatitis. interferon treatment may cause improvement in the hepatitis but relapse is common after therapy is stopped. prevention includes avoiding contaminated needles and practicing safer sex (abstaining or limiting the number of partners using barrier methods of contraception). universal vaccination of newborns with hepatitis b vaccine effectively prevents delta hepatitis because the delta hepatitis virus only causes disease in the presence of hepatitis b virus.
what is delta hepatitis?