In the United States and most of Western Europe, hepatitis D is most common among IV drug users and people with hemophilia. Some other groups of people who are considered at a high-risk of contracting hepatitis D include:
People from areas with high rates of hepatitis D -- particularly South America, Central Africa, southern Italy, and Middle Eastern countries. Hepatitis D is uncommon in China and Southeast Asia - areas where hepatitis B is common, except in high-risk groups, such as injection drug users.
Healthcare and public safety workers
International travelers
Hemodialysis patients
People with multiple sex partners or who have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease (STD)
Men who have sex with men
Sex partners of infected persons
People who received a transfusion of blood or blood products before July 1992 or clotting factors made before 1987
People who live in the same household as a chronically-infected person
Infants born to infected mothers (very rarely).
How Long After HDV Transmission Do Symptoms Occur?
When someone becomes infected with the hepatitis D virus, he or she does not feel sick immediately. The period between HDV transmission and the beginning of hepatitis D symptoms is called the hepatitis D incubation period. It may be as short as 30 days or as long as 180 days; the average is 4 weeks to 12 weeks.
(Click Hepatitis D Incubation Period to learn more about this period of time between infection and symptoms. Click Hepatitis D Prevention to learn how to prevent becoming infected with the hepatitis D virus in the first place.)
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