Chronic hepatitis E in hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients in a low-endemic country?
Cases of chronic hepatitis E have been described in patients after kidney and liver transplantation. In addition, hepatitis E virus (HEV) reactivation was reported after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We here evaluated if HEV infection might explain elevated liver enzymes in a well selected cohort of allogeneic HSCT patients with biochemical evidence of hepatitis (n = 52). Of note, none of the subjects tested positive for HEV RNA, including 2 HSCT patients who had been infected with HEV already before transplantation. Thus, both chronic courses of HEV infections and HEV reactivations seem to be rather rare events in HSCT patients in a non-endemic country.
Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
C
C
Koenecke
S
S
Pischke
A
A
Heim
L
L
Raggub
B
B
Bremer
R
R
Raupach
S
S
Buchholz
T
T
Schulz
M P
MP
Manns
A
A
Ganser
H
H
Wedemeyer
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000378:metabolism; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
D000410:Alanine Transaminase