Prevalence of anti-delta antibodies in pregnant women in Bandung, Indonesia.

Knowledge of the epidemiology of hepatitis D virus (HDV)-infection is very scarce in many parts of the world. The endemicity of delta-infection is believed to be maintained and spread through the network of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers in the community. In the Far East and the Pacific area, the prevalence of chronic HBsAg carriers is mostly high. Markers of HDV infection are very frequent in some regions (e.g. parts of China, Fiji Isles, Samoa), in other regions they are almost absent (e.g. Taiwan, Thailand, parts of China). In the Bandung region (West Java, Indonesia) we found 26 (2.8%) HBsAg carriers among 926 pregnant women. Most of them are chronic carriers (anti hepatitis B core (HBc) IgM negative). Although HBsAg is frequent in this Indonesian population, we could not find any anti-HD positive. This data warrants the conclusion that HDV infection has not yet been introduced in that densely populated area of Indonesia.