[Investigation of sub-clinical infection of hepatitis E virus in blood donors].
OBJECTIVE
To understand the prevalence of sub-clinical infection of hepatitis E virus (HEV) among blood donors.


METHODS
A cluster sampling strategy was used to sample all blood donors from July to August in 2002 in Beijing. Their blood was tested for IgM and IgG antibody against HEV.


RESULTS
The prevalence of anti-HEV IgM among blood donors in Beijing was 1.74%. The rate of abnormal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in anti-HEV IgM positive donors is significantly higher than anti-HEV IgM negative donors. Among all ALT abnormal donors, 2.68% can be associated with HEV sub-clinical infection. The percentage is similar with HBV but higher than HCV.


CONCLUSIONS
There are sub-clinical infection of HEV among blood donors, which is one of the cause of abnormal ALT in the donors.
Gao
Dong-ying
DY
Red Cross Blood Center of Beijing, Beijing 100088, China.
Peng
Geng
G
Zhu
Jia-ming
JM
Sun
Li
L
Zheng
Ying-jie
YJ
Zhang
Jun
J
D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D001782:Blood Donors; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D000410:Alanine Transaminase