title: Prevalence and implication of a newly identified infectious agent (SEN virus) in Taiwan.
abstract: To investigate the prevalence and clinical relevance of a recently identified SEN virus (SENV) in Taiwan, 2 SENV variants (SENV-D and SENV-H) were studied in high-risk persons, patients with liver disease, and healthy adults. SENV-D and/or SENV-H (SENV-D/H) infections were more frequent in high-risk groups (54%-90%) and in patients with chronic hepatitis B (41%), hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (54%), chronic hepatitis C (67%), and hepatitis C-related HCC (76%) than in healthy adults (15%). The prevalence of SENV-D/H infection was comparable between patients with non-A to E fulminant hepatitis (30%) and healthy adults. Most subjects with SENV-D/H infection alone had no or mild hepatitis, and coinfection of SENV-D/H with chronic hepatitis B or C was not associated with increased evidence of liver disease and the risk of HCC. These results suggest that SENV-D/H infection is common in high-risk groups in Taiwan but that SENV-D/H infection is not associated with hepatitis.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine and National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 100, Taiwan. kjh@ha.mc.ntu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Jia-Horng
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Pei-Jer
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ming-Yang
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Ding-Shinn
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D004266:DNA Virus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004267:DNA Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000150:complications; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D013624:Taiwan