HEPATITIS D DIAGNOSIS

HDV infection may be diagnosed by detecting the antibody against the virus. Unfortunately this test cannot detect acute coinfection or superinfection as early as when symptoms first develop. Antibody against HDV usually is found no sooner than 30 days after symptoms appear. Until recently, the virus itself could only be identified by testing a small sample of liver tissue. Scientists now are developing a blood test for HDV that should make diagnosis faster and easier. When HDV is present, liver enzymes (proteins made by the liver) are present in abnormally high amounts. In some patients with coinfection, the enzyme levels peak twice, once when HBV infection starts and again at the time of HDV infection.