(More fully "hepatitis D virus") a very small, circular RNA virus resembling a plant viroid, which can replicate only in the presence of hepatitis B virus; (also) the acute or chronic liver disease caused by this, typically as an exacerbation or reactivation of hepatitis B.
Origin
1980s.
Definition of hepatitis D in US English:
hepatitis D
noun
Medicine
(More fully "hepatitis D virus") a very small, circular RNA virus resembling a plant viroid, which can replicate only in the presence of hepatitis B virus; (also) the acute or chronic liver disease caused by this, typically as an exacerbation or reactivation of hepatitis B.