title: Prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis E in two rural Egyptian communities.
abstract: A population-based serosurvey in two rural Egyptian communities was used to assess age-specific prevalence of antibody to hepatitis E virus (anti-HEV). One community is in the Nile Delta (11,182 inhabitants; 3,997 participants) and the other in Upper Egypt (10,970 inhabitants; 6,029 participants). Samples were tested for anti-HEV with a commercial enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) based on antigens derived from open reading frame (ORF)2 and ORF3. Although there was a clear difference in sensitivity among the lots of the commercial test used, it was still possible to determine the seroprevalence. The seroprevalence of anti-HEV exceeded 60% in the first decade of life, peaked at 76% in the second decade and remained above 60% until the eighth decade. Prevalence of this magnitude is among the highest reported in the world, with an age-specific pattern more similar to hyperendemic hepatitis A virus transmission than generally described. Lot-to-lot variation in the sensitivity of the commercial ELISA kit highlights a problem when comparing seroepidemiologic studies of different populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore 21201, USA.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Fix
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abdel-Hamid
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Purcell
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Shehata
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abdel-Aziz
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mikhail
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: el Sebai
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nafeh
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Habib
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Arthur
authors.forename: S U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Emerson
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Strickland
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral