Clinical burden of hepatitis E virus infection in a tertiary care center in Flanders, Belgium
| Autor: | Anja Geerts, Frederik Van Hoecke, Tom Van Maerken, Vanessa Suin, Inge Ryckaert, Elizaveta Padalko, Veronik Hutse, Lien Cattoir, Eveline Nys, Matthias De Boulle, Hans Van Vlierberghe, Xavier Verhelst, Steven Van Gucht, Magali Wautier, Isabelle Colle |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Toxic hepatitis Adult Male medicine.medical_specialty Cirrhosis Exacerbation Adolescent viruses Population Disease medicine.disease_cause Hospitals University Tertiary Care Centers 03 medical and health sciences Young Adult 0302 clinical medicine Hepatitis E virus Belgium Virology Internal medicine medicine Prevalence Seroprevalence Humans Hepatitis Antibodies Prospective Studies hepatitis E virus clinical impact education Aged Hepatitis education.field_of_study business.industry virus diseases Middle Aged medicine.disease digestive system diseases Hepatitis E 030104 developmental biology Infectious Diseases Immunoglobulin M Immunoglobulin G RNA Viral 030211 gastroenterology & hepatology Female medicine.symptom business |
| Popis: | Background Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is increasingly recognized as a cause of hepatitis in developed countries. A high HEV IgG seroprevalence in humans and pigs is reported as well as sporadic clinical cases of autochtonous HEV but there are currently no data available on the clinical burden of HEV in Belgium. Objectives The objective of the current study was to evaluate the actual clinical burden of HEV infections in our tertiary care center in Flanders, Belgium. Study design In the setting of Ghent University Hospital, patients were assessed for the presence of HEV IgG and IgM as well as HEV RNA if no other cause was found for one of the following clinical presentations: a) elevation of liver enzymes in post-liver transplant; b) suspicion of acute or toxic hepatitis; c) unexplainable elevation of liver enzymes; d) cirrhosis with acute-on-chronic exacerbation. Results In a period of 39 months (January 2011–April 2014) 71 patients were enrolled. HEV IgG was found positive in 13 (18,3%) patients; HEV IgM in 6 patients (8,5%) and HEV RNA in 4 (5,6%) patients. All HEV IgM/RNA positive patients were male, aged 41–63, and classified in the clinical groups a), b) or d). HEV IgG seroprevalence was slightly higher but not significantly different from the seroprevalence in the general population in this region in Belgium previously reported to be 14% (p-value 0.41) by our group. Conclusions HEV should be considered as a cause of liver pathology especially in middle-aged men with elevation of liver enzymes. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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