Your doctor will ask questions about your symptoms and lifestyle, then do an exam. They’ll test your blood for the different types of hepatitis. If you have it, your doctor will do more bloodwork and imaging tests to check your liver for signs of damage.
If you have HDV, you may need to see a doctor who works with diseases of the digestive tract, including the liver, such as a gastroenterologist. Doctors called hepatologists specialize even further and treat only liver disease.
There’s no cure yet for HDV. Until doctors come up with better options, the drug prescribed most often is pegylated interferon alfa (peg-IFNa).
Peg-IFNa doesn’t work well for everyone. It can also cause many side effects, like lack of energy, weight loss, flu-like symptoms, and mental health issues like depression.
Doctors aren’t sure how long treatment for HDV should last. You may need to take peg-IFNa for a year. If a blood test still shows a certain amount of the virus in your body, your doctor may suggest that you stay on PEG-IFNa for up to 1 more year.
