Prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis E in two rural Egyptian communities.
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.
Fix
A D
AD
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore 21201, USA.
Abdel-Hamid
M
M
Purcell
R H
RH
Shehata
M H
MH
Abdel-Aziz
F
F
Mikhail
N
N
el Sebai
H
H
Nafeh
M
M
Habib
M
M
Arthur
R R
RR
Emerson
S U
SU
Strickland
G T
GT
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
D000914:Antibodies, Viral