{"doi":"10.1016/j.jiph.2023.08.011","title":"High prevalence of hepatitis delta virus among people with hepatitis B virus and HIV coinfection in Botswana","abstract":"BACKGROUND: Approximately 15-20 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis delta virus (HDV), which is approximately 5 % of people with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV). Sub-Saharan Africa has high HDV prevalence, leading to worse clinical outcomes among people who are HIV/HBV/HDV tri-infected. There are limited data on HDV prevalence among people with HIV (PWH) who are HBV-infected and uninfected in Botswana. We, therefore, determined HDV prevalence among PWH in Botswana. METHODS: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study utilizing archived plasma samples from PWH with results for HBV markers such as hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc), immunoglobulin M antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (IgM anti-HBc) and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg). Samples were categorized according to their HBsAg status and screened for anti-HDV antibodies. Total nucleic acid was extracted from samples with a single positive anti-HDV result, and HDV ribonucleic acid (RNA) load was quantified using the Altona Diagnostic RealStar® HDV RT-PCR kit. Statistical analysis was performed using STATA version 14.0 where p-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The study cohort (n = 478) included both HBsAg positive (44 %) and negative (56 %) participants, with a median age of 42 [IQR; 41-43]. Anti-HDV prevalence of (15/211) [7.1 %, 95 % CI: 4.4 - 11.4] was recorded among HBsAg positive participants, all of whom were IgM anti-HBc negative, while 5/6 participants were HBeAg negative. HDV RNA load was detected in 11/12 (92 %) anti-HDV-positive participants. No HDV prevalence was recorded among participants who were HBsAg negative, therefore, the overall HDV prevalence was (15/478) [3.1 %, 95 % CI: 1.9 - 5.1]. HIV viral load suppression was statistically insignificant, irrespective of HDV status. CONCLUSIONS: We report high HDV prevalence among HBsAg-positive PWH in Botswana. Most HDV-positive participants had active HDV infection, therefore, we recommend HDV screening in this cohort to guide their clinical care.","journal":"Journal of Infection and Public Health","year":2023,"id":375369,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":4,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9555,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":425975,"name":"Bonolo B. Phinius","orcid":"0000-0002-0180-2705","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1096091,"name":"Basetsana Phakedi","orcid":"0009-0005-9029-6427","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1068192,"name":"Gorata Mpebe","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425978,"name":"Wonderful T. Choga","orcid":"0000-0001-7606-0569","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":992617,"name":"Lynnette Bhebhe","orcid":"0000-0003-0282-0793","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1137583,"name":"Graceful Mulenga","orcid":"0009-0004-8242-9296","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":514549,"name":"Natasha O. Moraka","orcid":"0000-0001-5333-4010","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1096090,"name":"Tsholofelo Ratsoma","orcid":"0009-0006-9815-9088","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":972359,"name":"Molly Pretorius-Holme","orcid":"0000-0001-5363-2376","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":393322,"name":"Joseph Makhema","orcid":"0000-0003-0017-2438","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":431953,"name":"Roger Shapiro","orcid":"0000-0002-4832-6275","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":257497,"name":"Shahin Lockman","orcid":"0000-0002-5384-9716","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425983,"name":"Sikhulile Moyo","orcid":"0000-0003-3821-4592","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1103213,"name":"Mosimanegape Jongman","orcid":"0000-0002-6454-3173","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425976,"name":"Motswedi Anderson","orcid":"0000-0001-9974-9684","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425985,"name":"Simani Gaseitsiwe","orcid":"0000-0002-7089-3735","position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":425979,"name":"Kabo Baruti","orcid":"0000-0002-1592-7533","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":27,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:16:19.336238Z","pmid":"37734129","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}