noun, plural elegies. 1. a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead. 2. a poem written in elegiac meter. 3. a sad or mournful musical composition. Origin of elegy.
Hepatitis D virus (HDV) is an RNA virus that is structurally unrelated to hepatitis A (HAV), hepatitis B (HBV), or hepatitis C virus (HCV). It was discovered in 1977. HDV causes a unique infection that requires the assistance of viral particles from HBV to replicate and infect other hepatocytes.Its clinical course is varied and ranges from acute, self-limited infection to acute, fulminant liver failure.
Eventually better screening methods for blood donors were developed, improving the safety of donated plasma. Screening of donors for the hepatitis B virus was already in place, and in 1989 the hepatitis C virus (HCV) was isolated, allowing HCV antibody testing of donors to begin in 1990. HIV was identified in 1984, and by 1985 a blood test for HIV antibodies was instituted in blood and plasma collection facilities.