title: International collaborative survey on epidemiology of hepatitis E virus in 11 countries.
abstract: We conducted seroepidemiological studies on antibody prevalence to hepatitis E virus (HEV) in 5,233 sera from 11 countries to ascertain the present state of HEV infection on a global basis. The prevalence of anti-HEV IgG increased with age in these tested countries, but the rate of antibody positivity was over 20% in the 16-30 year-old group in most of the participating countries, except for Japan, the USA, and Spain. Of patients with acute hepatitis of unknown etiology from Nepal, 56% (14/25) were positive for the IgM class of anti-HEV antibody. In addition, HEV RNAs in the serum from 3 Nepali patients who had the IgM antibody were detected by nested PCR and all of the HEV genes isolated belonged to genotype 1. Our results indicate that HEV is spreading worldwide, not only in developing countries, but also in more industrialized countries than previously thought.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan. kenjiabe@nih.go.jp
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Tian-Cheng
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Khin Maung
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Win
authors.forename: Pradeep Krishna
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.forename: Vo Xuan
authors.initials: VX
authors.lastname: Quang
authors.forename: Trinh Thi
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Ngoc
authors.forename: Teresa Casanovas
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Taltavull
authors.forename: Andrei V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Smirnov
authors.forename: Vasily F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Uchaikin
authors.forename: Pairoj
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Luengrojanakul
authors.forename: Hongxi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Abdel Rahman
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: El-Zayadi
authors.forename: Alfred M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Prince
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: Naohiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Masaki
authors.forename: Ayano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Inui
authors.forename: Tetsutaro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sata
authors.forename: Naokazu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takeda
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001838:Bolivia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006306:Health Surveys; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007391:International Cooperation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies