DECRYPTION – A new antiviral is giving good results in controlling this particularly deadly disease.
Hepatitis D or delta is not the best known form of hepatitis, but it is the most severe. Those affected are at high risk of developing cirrhosis or liver cancer within a few years, and may die if they do not receive a transplant in time. Another particularity: the hepatitis D virus needs the hepatitis B virus to replicate. This disease therefore only exists in people suffering from chronic hepatitis B (for which there is a treatment that can control the infection, but not cure it). It is estimated that 5% of hepatitis B carriers also have hepatitis delta – that is 15 to 20 million people worldwide.
In France, vaccination against hepatitis B and systematic screening of blood donations has reduced the incidence of hepatitis D since the 1990s. “The problem is that we must systematically consider screening for hepatitis D in patients with chronic hepatitis B. And it’s not…
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