Hepatitis E seroprevalence in east and west Flanders, Belgium.
OBJECTIVE
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is increasingly recognized as a cause of hepatitis in developed countries. The goal of this study is to provide an estimate of the seroprevalence of HEV in Belgium, more precisely in East and West Flanders, since data for this country are currently lacking.


METHODS
One hundred patients presenting at the gynecological (mainly fertility center) or orthopedic clinics of our hospital were randomly selected to be tested for anti-HEV IgG antibodies using a sensitive indirect ELISA and, in the case of a borderline result, a strip immunoassay.


RESULTS
The anti-HEV IgG seroprevalence was found to be 14%.


CONCLUSIONS
The observed seroprevalence rate suggests that HEV infection is not an uncommon occurrence in Belgium. Comparisons with published seroprevalence data of other Western European countries should be made with caution due to differences in the analytical performance of anti-HEV IgG assays.
Department of Clinical Chemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, (2) Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.
F
F
Van Hoecke
T
T
Van Maerken
M
M
De Boulle
A
A
Geerts
Van
V
Vlierberghe
I
I
Colle
H E
HE
Padalko
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D055815:Young Adult