Prevalence of hepatitis E antibodies in immigrants from developing countries

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of anti-hepa titis E virus (HEV) antibodies among indigenous Spanish blood donors and im migrants from developing countries in order to determine whether immigrants pose a significant risk for the transmission of HEV to the healthy Spanish population. The seroprevalence of HEV was determined in a cohort of 90 asy mptomatic immigrants (mostly from countries in sub-Saharan Africa) who had recently arrived in Madrid, Spain, and in 863 blood donors, who represented the healthy Spanish population. The results showed that the prevalence of HEV antibodies was 1.9 times higher in the immigrants than in the blood don ors (5.5% in immigrants, 95% CI 1.8-12.4; 2.9% in blood donors, 95% CI 1.9- 4.2). Combined with the estimated population figures of 300,000 undocumente d immigrants versus 39,000,000 Spaniards, these results indicate that sub-S aharan immigrants cannot currently be considered a major risk source for th e transmission of HEV in Spain.