ANTIBODIES TO HEPATITIS-E VIRUS AMONG CHINESE PATIENTS WITH ACUTE HEPATITIS IN TAIWAN

The prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis E virus (anti-HEV) was inves tigated in patients with acute hepatitis, and correlated with the clin ical features. Sera from 110 patients with acute hepatitis and 60 heal thy controls were tested for anti-HEV, antibody to hepatitis C virus ( anti-HCV), and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). There were signifi cant differences in the prevalence of anti-HEV, anti-HCV, and HBsAg be tween patients and controls (21.8% vs. 0%, 16.3% vs. 1.6% and 58.1% vs . 18.0%, respectively). Anti-HEV was detected in 6 (25.0%) of 24 patie nts with anti-HCV, 6 (9.3%) of 64 patients with HBsAg, and another 6 ( 22.2%) of 27 patients with acute hepatitis non-A, non-B, non-C. Anti-H EV was found in 15 men and three women, whose ages ranged from 34 to 7 5 (median, 57) years old. The median age of patients with anti-HEV was older than that in patients without this antibody (57 vs. 38 years; P = 0.001). The prevalence of anti-HEV in patients with anti-HCV alone (35.2%) was higher than that (11.1%) in patients with HBsAg alone (P = 0.03). Compared to patients without anti-HEV, HEV-infected patients h ad a higher frequency of travel to a foreign country (P = 0.0001), had a lower HBsAg rate (P = 0.019), and had higher serum alkaline phospha tase levels (P = 0.04) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase levels (P = 0 .01). In conclusion, HEV infection occurs in 22.2% of patients with ac ute hepatitis non-A, non-B, non-C. HEV superinfection may occur in pat ients with chronic hepatitis B or C virus infection. (C) 1994 Wiley-Li ss, Inc.