{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,2]],"date-time":"2025-12-02T03:21:18Z","timestamp":1764645678387,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,5]],"date-time":"2023-08-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1691193600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005357","name":"Slovak Research and Development Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["APVV-18-0171"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["APVV-18-0171"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005357","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: It is assumed that the prevalence of hepatitis D in HBsAg-positive individuals reaches 4.5\u201313% in the world and on average about 3% in Europe. Data from several European countries, including Slovakia, are missing or are from an older period. Methods: We analyzed all available data on hepatitis D from Slovakia, including reports from the Slovak Public Health Authority and the results of one prospective study, and three smaller surveys. The determination of anti-HDV IgG and IgM antibodies and\/or HDV RNA was used to detect hepatitis D. Results: In the years 2005\u20132022, no confirmed case of acute or chronic HDV infection was reported in Slovakia. The presented survey includes a total of 343 patients, of which 126 were asymptomatic HBsAg carriers, 33 acute hepatitis B, and 184 chronic hepatitis B cases. In a recent prospective study of 206 HBsAg-positive patients who were completely serologically and virologically examined for hepatitis B and D, only 1 anti-HDV IgG-positive and no anti-HDV IgM or HDV RNA-positive cases were detected. In other smaller surveys, two anti-HDV IgG-positive patients were found without the possibility of HDV RNA confirmation. In total, only 3 of 329 HBsAg-positive patients (0.91%) tested positive for anti-HDV IgG antibodies, and none of 220 tested positive for HDV RNA. Conclusion: The available data show that Slovakia is one of the countries with a very low prevalence of HDV infection, reaching less than 1% in HBsAg-positive patients. Routine testing for hepatitis D is lacking in Slovakia, and therefore it is necessary to implement testing of all HBsAg-positive individuals according to international recommendations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v15081695","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,5]],"date-time":"2023-08-05T10:21:39Z","timestamp":1691230899000},"page":"1695","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Is Slovakia Almost a Hepatitis D Free Country?"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4143-1355","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pavol","family":"Kristian","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectology and Travel Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Louis Pasteur University Hospital, Pavol Jozef Safarik University, 041 90 Kosice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3231-187X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ivana","family":"Hockickov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectology and Travel Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Louis Pasteur University Hospital, Pavol Jozef Safarik University, 041 90 Kosice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0929-4642","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elena","family":"Hatalov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozes Safarik University, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniela","family":"\u017dilin\u010danov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"II. Department of Internal Medicine, HEGITO Division Hepatology, Gastroenterology and Liver Transplantation, F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital, Slovak Medical University, 974 01 Banska Bystrica, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2385-137X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marek","family":"R\u00e1c","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty Hospital, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0372-4429","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Veronika","family":"Bedn\u00e1rov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozes Safarik University, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4538-0679","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Patr\u00edcia Denisa","family":"Len\u00e1rtov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectology and Travel Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Louis Pasteur University Hospital, Pavol Jozef Safarik University, 041 90 Kosice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2448-6757","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sylvia","family":"Dra\u017eilov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Louis Pasteur University Hospital, Pavol Jozef Safarik University, 041 90 Kosice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5171-3623","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"\u013dubom\u00edr","family":"Skladan\u00fd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"II. Department of Internal Medicine, HEGITO Division Hepatology, Gastroenterology and Liver Transplantation, F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital, Slovak Medical University, 974 01 Banska Bystrica, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-1271-1300","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ivan","family":"Schr\u00e9ter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectology and Travel Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Louis Pasteur University Hospital, Pavol Jozef Safarik University, 041 90 Kosice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6169-9984","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peter","family":"Jar\u010du\u0161ka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Louis Pasteur University Hospital, Pavol Jozef Safarik University, 041 90 Kosice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9011-2238","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Monika","family":"Hal\u00e1nov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozes Safarik University, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"231","DOI":"10.1093\/gastro\/goz023","article-title":"Hepatitis D infection: From initial discovery to current investigational therapies","volume":"7","author":"Da","year":"2019","journal-title":"Gastroenterol. 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