Hepatitis E
Human disease caused by Orthohepevirus A / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Hepatitis E is inflammation of the liver caused by infection with the hepatitis E virus (HEV);[4][5] it is a type of viral hepatitis.[6] Hepatitis E has mainly a fecal-oral transmission route that is similar to hepatitis A, although the viruses are unrelated.[7][8][9] HEV is a positive-sense, single-stranded, nonenveloped, RNA icosahedral virus and one of five known human hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E.
Hepatitis E | |
---|---|
Hepatitis E virus | |
Specialty | Infectious disease, Hepatology |
Symptoms | Nausea, jaundice[1] |
Complications | Liver failure[1] |
Causes | Hepatitis E virus (HEV)[1] |
Diagnostic method | Blood test[1] |
Differential diagnosis | Hepatitis A[2] |
Treatment | Rest, ribavirin (if chronic)[1] |
Frequency | 28 million worldwide (2013)[3] |
Like hepatitis A, hepatitis E usually follows an acute and self-limiting course of illness (the condition is temporary and the individual recovers) with low death rates in resource-rich areas; however, it can be more severe in pregnant women and people with a weakened immune system, with substantially higher death rates. In pregnant women, especially in the third trimester, the disease is more often severe and is associated with a clinical syndrome called fulminant liver failure, with death rates around 20%.[8][10][11] Whereas pregnant women may have a rapid and severe course, organ transplant recipients who receive medications to weaken the immune system and prevent organ rejection can develop a slower and more persistent form called chronic hepatitis E,[12] which is so diagnosed after 3 months of continuous viremia.[13] HEV can be clustered genetically into 8 genotypes, and genotypes 3 and 4 tend to be the ones that cause chronic hepatitis in the immunosuppressed.[14][15][16]
In 2017, hepatitis E was estimated to affect more than 19 million people.[3] Those most commonly at risk of HEV are men aged 15 to 35 years of age.[17] A preventive vaccine (HEV 239) is approved for use in China.[18]
The virus was discovered in 1983 by researchers investigating an outbreak of unexplained hepatitis among Soviet soldiers serving in Afghanistan.[17] The earliest well-documented epidemic of hepatitis E occurred in 1955 in New Delhi and affected tens of thousands of people (hepatitis E virus was identified as the etiological agent at fault retrospectively through testing of stored samples).[19]