Seroprevalence of anti-hepatitis E virus (HEV) in a Korean population: comparison of two commercial anti-HEV assays.
BACKGROUND
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) has emerged as an important cause of epidemic and sporadic acute viral hepatitis worldwide. This study investigated the seroprevalence of anti-HEV in a Korean population and compared the performance of two commercially available anti-HEV assays.


METHODS
A total 147 health-check examinees were randomly sampled as matched to the age- and sex- adjusted standard population based on the Korean National Census of 2007. Serum immunoglobulin G anti-HEV was determined by using the Genelabs assay (Genelabs, Singapore) and the Wantai assay (Wantai, Beijing, China).


RESULTS
The overall anti-HEV seroprevalence was 23.1% (95% CI, 16.1-30.1%) using the Wantai assay and 14.3% (95% CI, 8.3-20.3%) using the Genelabs assay. Only 12 samples (8.1%) were positive for anti-HEV as measured by both assays; agreement between the two assays was poor (kappa value of 0.315). The anti-HEV seroprevalence increased with age from 2% and 3% in the people younger than 20-years-of-age to 34.6% and 42.3% in those over 59-years-of-age by the Genelabs and Wantai assay, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The HEV seroprevalence in Korean population is about 20% overall, with seroprevalence increasing in this population with increasing age. There was poor concordance in the results of the Genelabs and Wantai assays, which warrants further study concerning a reliable diagnostic test for the diagnosis of hepatitis E.
Department of Internal Medicine, Gumi-dong 300, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.
Hyun Kyung
HK
Park
Sook-Hyang
SH
Jeong
Jin-Wook
JW
Kim
Byung-Hyun
BH
Woo
Dong Ho
DH
Lee
Hyun Young
HY
Kim
Soyeon
S
Ahn
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D044466:Asian People; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D055815:Young Adult
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G