Objective: Hepatitis D virus is a defective virus; it is a single-stranded RNA virus called satellite virus in taxonomy. It uses the surface antigen of hepatitis B virus on its outer membrane. It can infect together with active HBV infection (co-infection) or in HBV carriers (superinfection). There is no active or passive prophylaxis method for HDV, but HBV vaccine has been found to be effective. Although the rate of HDV infection in our country is reported to be low, it is above the national average in the Southeastern Anatolia. In this study, the prevalence of anti-HDV in patients admitted to Gaziantep University in the last year was investigated.

Methods: Anti-HDV, HbsAg, Anti-Hbc-IgM tests performed in Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine Microbiology Laboratory were investigated. The obtained data were analyzed retrospectively.

Results: Anti-HDV antibodies of 2483 patients who were initially referred for HBsAg testing and found to be positive for HbsAg were investigated. A total of 100 of them (4%) were found to be positive for anti-HDV; 59 of these 100 patients were male and 41 were female. The highest and lowest Anti-HDV positivity rates were found in 40-49 and 0-9 age groups, respectively.

Conclusion: Due to the high anti-HDV seroprevalence detected in our study, HBV vaccination is important for the prevention of HDV infection. In addition, since anti-HDV positivity rates are detected at different rates even among different centers in the same region, it is important for each center to follow its own anti-HDV positivity rates.