[Recent etiology and clinical features of acute viral hepatitis in a single center of Korea].
OBJECTIVE
The etiology of acute viral hepatitis in Korea has been dynamically changing during the recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the recent etiology and the clinical features of acute viral hepatitis in a single center of Korea.


METHODS
We performed a retrospective analysis of a prospective cohort of 55 patients who were diagnosed with acute viral hepatitis A to E during the period from May 2005 to August 2006. In addition to the clinically acute manifestations, the confirmatory serological tests were performed for the diagnosis of acute hepatitis A, B, C and E.


RESULTS
The proportion of patients with acute viral hepatitis A, B, C, E and others were 56.4% (n=31), 12.7% (n=7), 18.2% (n=10), 9.1% (n=5) and 3.6% (n=2), respectively. The mean age of the patients with acute hepatitis A, B, C and E were 29.1+/-4.38, 38.7+/-11.72, 45.3+/-17.62 and 32.4+/-6.58 years, respectively. There was no fatal case. All cases of acute hepatitis B and six out of ten cases of acute hepatitis C recovered spontaneously. Four out of the five patients with acute hepatitis E had no history of travel to endemic area.


CONCLUSIONS
The most common etiology of acute viral hepatitis in Korea is hepatitis A virus, and hepatitis C and B virus were the next most common causes. The sporadic cases of acute hepatitis E were not rare, and coinfection of HAV and HEV was observed. A multicenter, prospective study is warranted in the future.
Kang
Hyung Min
HM
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea.
Jeong
Sook Hyang
SH
Kim
Jin Wook
JW
Lee
Donhun
D
Choi
Chang Kyu
CK
Park
Young Soo
YS
Hwang
Jin Hyuk
JH
Kim
Nayoung
N
Lee
Dong Ho
DH
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D003699:Hepatitis D / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D006518:Hepatitis Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies