Frequency of hepatitis B, C and D and human immunodeficiency virus infections in multi-transfused thalassemics.

ABSTRACT

Of forty multi-transfused thalassemia patients (26 males, 14 females; mean age 8.1 +/- 5.3 years, range 1-35) with no clinical or biochemical evidence of liver disease, HBsAg, anti-hepatitis C virus and anti-human immunodeficiency virus antibodies were present in 18 (45%), 7 (17.5%) and 1 (2.5%) cases respectively. Three of the 18 (16.7%) HBsAg positive patients were anti-delta antibody positive. Our results indicate that more than 50% of multi-transfused thalassemia patients show serological evidence of one or more of hepatitis B, C and D and human immunodeficiency virus infection.