Hepatitis E infection is an infrequent cause of acute hepatitis in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires.

Journal of Clinical Virology : the Official Publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology
Manuel MendizabalY Marcelo Silva

Abstract

Background Argentina is considered a region of low seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV), however; no studies have evaluated its burden among acute hepatitis cases. We aimed to estimate the proportion of acute HEV and outcome in a cohort of patients with acute hepatitis from 6 liver units in the Metropolitan area of Buenos Aires (MABA). We performed a prospective cohort study including patients ≥18 years with acute hepatitis (increase in transaminases x 5 ULN) fromJuly 2016 to May 2018. Severe hepatitis was defined as acute hepatitis + INR> 1.5 and acute liver failure as severe hepatitis + encephalopathy. In patients in whom other etiologies were excluded, HEV tests were performed: anti-HEV IgM/G and HEV-RNA in serum and feces. Overall, 268 patients with acute hepatitis were included in the study. The most frequent etiologies of acute hepatitis were hepatitis B (67patients, 25 %), hepatotoxicity (65, 24 %) and autoimmune hepatitis (26, 10 %). Acute HEV infection was confirmed in 8 (2.98 %; 95 %CI 1.25-5.63) patients who tested positive for anti-HEV IgM. A total of 63 (23.5 %) patients were hospitalized and 9 (3.3 %) patients died. Overall, 48 (18 %) patients developed severe hepatitis, 6 (2.2 %) have acute liver failure, 6 ...Continue Reading

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