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We have assessed the prevalence of hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection in people with histologically proven chronic liver disease living in Somalia. Among 104 patients studied (14 with chronic persistent hepatitis, 74 with chronic active hepatitis, and 16 with active cirrhosis), 52 were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen; of these, 26 (50%) carried anti-delta antibodies. HDV infection was detected more frequently in sera from hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) negative patients (60.9%) than in HBeAg positive patients (9.1%). Using the dot-blot hybridization technique, serum hepatitis B virus deoxyribonucleic acid was revealed in 73.1% of patients without HDV infection, while it was detected in only 7.7% of anti-delta positive patients. It is concluded that HDV is strongly associated with chronic liver disease in Somalia.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) circulation was surveyed in three Somalian villages (Buur-Fuul, Mooda-Moode and Bajuni Islands) in different districts and 52 children living in a closed community, aged under one year, were studied. Of the 331 village subjects aged one to 83 years, 12.08% were HBs positive, 29.9% anti-HBs positive, 43.8% anti-HBc positive and 21.4 anti-HBe positive. Among the HBs-positive subjects, 34.7% had HBeAg and 21.7% had anti-HBcAg-IgM. No statistically significant differences were found for HBs, anti-HBs, anti-HBc and anti-HBe among the three villages. HBeAg prevalence was higher in Buur-Fuul than in Mooda-Moode and in Bajuni Islands. HBsAg prevalence was about the same for each age group studied, whereas the prevalence of anti-HBc showed a continuous rise and reached its maximum level of 43.8% in those aged 39 years and older. The proportion of HBs-positive subjects who also carried HBeAg was high in the youngest children but fell with age. HBs-positive children aged under one year had a high anti-HBc-IgM prevalence. Our finding suggests that perinatal infection may play an important role among the Somalian population in determining the reservoir of virus carriers.

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