Hepatitis E virus: can it be transmitted parenterally?

Of 200 voluntary blood donors screened for hepatitis E virus (HEV) RNA, emp loying the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), three were found to be positive (1.5%). None of the HEV RNA-positive blood donors had any symptoms at the time of blood donation or during subsequent follow -up. One donor was positive for immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies to HEV, w ith a raised serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level, whereas the other two donors were negative for both immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibodies to HEV. Follow-up blood samples collected 2-5 months later from HEV RNA-po sitive blood donors demonstrated the presence of IgG anti-HEV antibodies. O verall seroprevalence of IgG anti-HEV was 18.6%, Retrospective studies on s amples collected from commercial blood donors and haemophiliacs revealed Ig G anti-HEV positivity to be 24.6% (46/191) and 24.4% (22/90) and statistica lly not different (P > 0.1) from the prevalence among voluntary blood donor s and an age-matched normal population, respectively. However, a highly sig nificant proportion of the paid plasma donors, with a high prevalence of Ig G antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C virus, were po sitive for IgG antibodies to HEV (54/71, 76%, P< 0,001), indicating a possi ble role of blood-derived HEV in the transmission of the virus among plasma donors. These results demonstrate the possible risk of transfusion-associa ted hepatitis E in hyperendemic areas.