The hepatitis D virus is spread through infected bodily fluids. Among the bodily fluids that can transmit the hepatitis D virus are infected blood and blood products. Hepatitis D is also spread through contact with other infected bodily fluids, such as semen, vaginal fluids, and saliva.
Casual contact -- as in the usual office, factory, or school setting -- does not spread the virus. A person cannot get hepatitis D from a kiss or other normal everyday activities, such as hugging or shaking hands.
Who's at Risk for Hepatitis D?
Some of the people who are at risk of developing hepatitis D include:
- Intravenous drug users
- People with hemophilia
- Those who have sex with an infected person
- Men who have sex with men
- People from areas where hepatitis D is common, particularly South America, Central Africa, southern Italy, and Middle Eastern countries
- People who live with an infected person
- Healthcare workers
- Hemodialysis patients
- People who received a transfusion of blood or blood products before July 1992
- People who received clotting factors made before 1987
- International travelers
- Infants born to infected mothers (very rarely).
Incubation Period for Hepatitis D
Following hepatitis D transmission, a person does not immediately become sick. Once the hepatitis D virus enters the body, it travels to the liver, where it begins to multiply.
After 14 to 180 days,
hepatitis D symptoms can begin. This period between hepatitis D transmission and the start of hepatitis D signs and symptoms is called the "hepatitis D incubation period." A person with chronic
hepatitis B will usually show symptoms more quickly than someone who becomes infected with hepatitis B and D at the same time.
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