SHORT REPORT - FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR HEPATITIS-E IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

During an investigation of a hepatitis outbreak occurring in a small v illage in the Brazilian Amazon, serum samples from 16 recent hepatitis cases and 66 of their asymptomatic relatives were tested for the pres ence of hepatitis A, B, C, and E markers. Sanitation is poor and organ ized disposal of sewage is absent in the village. Two of the 16 hepati tis cases were non-A, non-B and non-C hepatitis, but their sera reacte d to hepatitis E antibodies of the IgG class (anti-HEV). Likewise, ser a from seven of the 66 asymptomatic relatives were positive for anti-H EV. Four of the nine anti-HEV positive sera had their reactivity confi rmed by a neutralization test using synthetic peptides based on the nu cleotide sequences of open reading frames 2 (ORF2) and 3 (ORF3) encode d in the HEV genome. To our knowledge, this is the first report sugges ting the occurrence of acute E hepatitis cases in the Brazilian Amazon .