The HBV/HDV screening and linkage to care in drug users: A therapeutic diagnostic pathway (PDTA)

Journal title MISSION
Author/s Felice Alfonso Nava, Loreta A. Kondili
Publishing Year 2024 Issue 2023/63-64
Language English Pages 5 P. 18-22 File size 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/mis63-64-2023oa17586
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

View article Download Open Access article

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The infectious diseases are an important comorbidity in drugs users and a health warming.Today only a few percentages of drug users are subjected to screening for hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).In the recent years an effort has been made in drug users for the elimination of hepatitis C virus (HCV).Unfortunately, several barriers are now limiting the achievement of the goal of HCV elimination, as suggested by WHO.Drug users are people highly at risk to contract HBV and HDV infections. Only a few percentages of drug users receive HBV/HDV treatments, although they are effective and safe. The lack of treatment for drug users may be due to several factors. The main is that only a few percentages of drug users are tested for HBV and linked to treatment.The principal aim of this work is to defi ne a therapeutic diagnostic pathway (Percorso Diagnostico Terapeutico Assistenziale – PDTA) able to favorite HBV/HDV screening and linkage to care in drug users.

Keywords: ; Hepatitis D virus (HDV); Hepatitis B virus (HBV); Drug users; Harm reduction; Bulevirtide

  1. Aghemo A., Andreoni M., Gaeta G.B. et al. (2023). Indicazioni operative AISF and SIMIT per la diagnosi e la gestione clinica del paziente affetto da epatite delta. www.simit.org/images/news/Documento%20AISF-SIMIT%20Epatite%20Delta.pdf.
  2. Aguilera A., Trastoy R., Barreiro P., Costa J.J., de Mendoza C., Pena J.M., Soriano V. (2018). Decline and changing profile of hepatitis delta among injection drug users in Spain. Antivir. Ther., 23(1): 87-90.
  3. Botelho-Souza L.F., Vasconcelos M.P.A., Dos Santos A.O., Salcedo J.M.V., Vierira D.S. (2017). Hepatitis delta: virological and clinical aspects. Virol. J., 14: 177.
  4. Buti M., Gonzalez A., Riveiro-Barciela M., Bourliere M. (2023). Management of chronic HBV-HDV patients chronic HBV-HDV infection: a review on new management options. United European Gastroenterol. J. DOI: 10.1002/ueg2.12494.
  5. Chen F., Zhang J., Guo F., Wen B., Luo S., Yuan D., Lin Y., Ou W., Tang P., Dai G., Li F., Liu W., Qu X. (2017). Hepatitis B, C, and D virus infection showing distinct patterns between injection drug users and the general population. J. Gastroenterol. Hepatol., 32(2): 515-520.
  6. Coco B., Tosti M.E., Raimondo G. et al. (2022). Epidemiological, virological and clinical profile of HBsAg positive individuals in Italian hospital settings; interim results of the HBV/HDV PITR cohort. Dig. Liv. Dis., 54(suppl1): S15-S16.
  7. Degasperi E., Anolli M.P., Colonna S. et al. (2022). SAT429 – Bulevirtide monotherapy for 48 weeks in HDV patients with compensated cirrhosis and clinically significant portal hypertension. J. Hepathol., 77: S868.
  8. De Lédinghen V., Metivier S., Bardou-Jacquet E. et al. (2022). SAT373 – Treatment with bulevirtide in patients with chronic HBV/HDV coinfection. Safety and efficacy at month 18 in real-world setting. J. Hepatol., 77: S840.
  9. European Association for the Study of the Liver. EASL (2017). Clinical Practice Guidelines on the management of hepatitis B virus infection. J. Hepatol., 67: 370-398.
  10. European Association for the Study of the Liver (2021). Clinical Practice Guidelines on non-invasive tests for evaluation of liver disease severity and prognosis – 2021 update. J. Hepatol., 75: 659-689.
  11. Fontaine H., Fougerou-Leurent C., Gordien E. et al. (2022). OS093 – Real life study of bulivertide in chronic hepatitis delta: preliminary results of the ANRS HD EP01 BuleDelta prospective cohort. J. Hepatol., 77: S72.
  12. Grigolin V., De Mari M., Dinelli E., Marcolongo L., Montalto S., Padovan G.B., Pojani G., Zorzi F., Orcamo P., ava F.A. (2021). Prison health is a public health. Management of Sars-CoV-2 outbreak in an Italian prison. Italian Quarterly Journal of Addiction (Mission), 55: 32-35.
  13. Hercun J., Koh C., Heller T. (2020). Hepatitis delta: prevalence, natural history, and treatment options. Gastroenterol. Clin. North Am., 49: 239-252.
  14. Hsieh M.H., Wang S.C., Hsieh M.Y., Huang C.F., Yeh M.L., Yang J.F. et al. (2016). Hepatitis D virus infectious among injecting drug users with and without human immunodeficiency virus infection in Taiwan. Kaohsiung J. Med. Sci., 31(109): 526-530.
  15. Kushner T., Serper M., Kaplan D.E. (2015). Delta hepatitis within the Veterans Affairs medical system in the United States: prevalence, risk factor, and outcomes. J. Hepathol., 63: 586-592.
  16. Lampertico P., Roulot D., Wedemeyer H. (2022). Bulevirtide with or without peg-INFa for patients with compensated chronic hepatitis Delta: from clinical trials to real life studies. J. Hepatol., 77(5): 1422-30.
  17. Lempp F.A., Ni Y., Urban S. (2016). Hepatitis delta virus: insight into a peculiar pathogen and novel treatment options. Nat. Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepathol., 13: 580-589.
  18. Lin H.H., Lee S.S., Yu M.L., Chang T.T., Su C.W., Hu B.S., Chen Y.S., Huang C.K., Lai C.H., Lin J.N., Wu J.C. (2015). Changing hepatitis D virus epidemiology in a hepatitis B virus endemic area with a national vaccination program. Hepathology, 61: 1870-1879.
  19. Loglio A., Ferenci P., Uceda Renteria S.C. et al. (2022). Safety and effectiveness of up 3 years’ bulevirtide monotherapy in patients with HDV-related cirrhosis. J. Hepatol., 76(2): 464-469.
  20. Lu M.Y., Chen C.T., Shih Y.L., Tsai P.C., Hsieh M.H., Huang C.F. et al. (2021). Changing epidemiology and viral interplay of hepatitis B, C and D among injecting drug users-dominant prisoners in Tawian. Sci. Rep., 11(1): 8554.
  21. Mahale P., Aka P.V., Chen X., Liu P., Wang A.S., Simenel S., Tseng F.C., Chen S., Edlin B.R., Glenn J.S., O’Brien T.R. (2018). Hepatitis D viremia among injecting drug users in San Francisco. J. Infect. Dis., 217: 1902-1906.
  22. Nava F.A., Bassetti G., Cristofoletti M., Fornaini M., Geraci R., Paties M., Poggi C., Tolio S., Pilerci C. (2021). Hepatitis delta is a public health concern in the community setting: the role of prison health care units in limiting the spread of infection in general population. Italian Quarterly Journal of Addiction (Mission), 56: 43-46.
  23. Negro F., Lok A.S. (2023). Hepatitis D: a review. JAMA, 330(24): 2376-2387.
  24. Niro G.A., Ferro A., Cicerchia F., Brascugli I., Durazzo M. (2021). Hepatitis delta virus: from infection to new therapeutic strategies. World J. Gastroenterol., 27(24): 3530-3542.
  25. Perez-Vargas J., Amirache F., Boson B., Mialo C., Freitas N., Sureau C., Fusil F., Cosset F.L. (2019). Enveloped viruses distinct from HBV induce dissemination of hepatitis D virus in vivo. Nat. Commun., 10, 2098.
  26. Raimondo G., Locarnini T., Pollicino T et al. (2019). Update of the statements on biology and clinical impact of occult hepatitis B virus infection. J. Hepathol., 71: 397-408.
  27. Schaper M., Rodirguez-Frias F., Jardi et al. (2010). Quantitative longitudinal evaluations of hepatitis delta virus RNA and hepatitis B virus DNA shows a dynamic, complex replicative profile in chronic hepatitis B and D. J. Hepatol., 52: 658-664.
  28. Shih H.H., Jeng K.S., Syu W.J.M., Huang Y.H., Su C.W., Peng W.L., Sheen I.J., Wu J.C. (2008). Hepatitis B surface antigen levels and sequences of natural hepatitis B virus variants influence the assembly and secretion of hepatitis delta virus. J. Virol., 82(5): 2250-2264.
  29. Simpson P.L., Simpson M., Adily A., Grant L., Butler T. (2019). Prison cell spatial density and infections and communicable diseases: a systematic review. BMJ Open, 9(7), e026806.
  30. Stockdale A.J., Kreuels B., Henrion M.Y.R., Giorgi E., Kyomuhangi I., de Martel C., Hutin Y., Geretti A.M. (2020). The global prevalence of hepatitis D virus infection: systematic review and metanalysis. J. Hepathol., 64: S102-S116.
  31. Taylor J., Pricell R.H., Farci P. (2013). Hepatitis D (delta virus). In: Knipe D.M., Howley P.M., Fields Virology. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, 2222-2241.
  32. Vlachogiannokos J., Papatheodoridis G.V. (2020). New epidemiology of hepatitis delta. Liver Int., 40 Suppl. 1: 48-53.
  33. Wedemeyer H., Aleman S., Brunetto M. et al. (2022). GS006 – Efficacy and safety of bluevirtide monotherapy given at 2 mg or 10 mg dose levels once daily for treatment of chronic hepatitis delta: week 48 primary and point results from a phase 3 randomized, multicenter, parallel study. J. Hepatol., 77: S4-S5.

Felice Alfonso Nava, Loreta A. Kondili, The HBV/HDV screening and linkage to care in drug users: A therapeutic diagnostic pathway (PDTA) in "MISSION" 63-64/2023, pp 18-22, DOI: 10.3280/mis63-64-2023oa17586