title: Hepatitis E: current status.
abstract: Acute hepatitis E is a very common disease in developing countries, to the point that, according to World Health Organization estimates, one third of the world's population has been exposed to HEV. It also causes outbreaks in refugee camps or after natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes. Sporadic cases of acute hepatitis have been observed in practically all European countries and other developed geographical areas, not only in travelers from endemic countries but also in people with no risk factors. But, lately, new aspects of this infection are appearing in industrialized countries such as the possibility of the disease becoming chronic in transplant patients, the immunocompromised in general, and even in patients with previous liver disease who are immunocompetent. In this comprehensive review, we summarize the current knowledge on HEV infection.
authors.affiliation: Área de Microbiología. Departamento Farmacia. Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, Moncada Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Pérez-Gracia
authors.forename: María Luísa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Mateos Lindemann
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caridad Montalvo Villalba
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D019049:Developed Countries; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host