Acute sporadic hepatitis E in Kuwait.
Fifty-seven adult patients with acute hepatitis and 34 comparison patients without liver disease were evaluated using a newly developed Western blot assay for IgM antibody to hepatitis E virus. The mean age of patients with hepatitis was 32 years (range, 18-55 years); 88% were male. Among patients with acute hepatitis, hepatitis A (anti-HAV IgM positive) was diagnosed in two (4%), hepatitis B (anti-HBc IgM positive) in three (5%), and hepatitis E (anti-HEV IgM positive) in 34 (60%). One hepatitis patient had CMV IgM, another had EBV IgM, and 16 others (28%) were negative for all serologic markers of acute viral hepatitis. No patient with acute hepatitis A or B and none of the comparison patients without acute hepatitis had anti-HEV IgM. All but one case of acute hepatitis E were found among expatriates of Asian origin, and acute hepatitis E was associated significantly with recent travel to the Indian subcontinent. These data suggest that acute hepatitis E is common among foreign workers in Kuwait but that little HEV transmission is occurring directly in Kuwait.
Koshy
A
A
Thuniyan Al-Ghanim Gastroenterology Center, Al-Amiri Hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Richards
A L
AL
al-Mufti
S
S
Grover
S
S
Shabrawy
M A
MA
Pacsa
A
A
al-Anezi
H
H
al-Nakib
B
B
Burans
J
J
Carl
M
M
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D007730:Kuwait / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007075:Immunoglobulin M