title: [Seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus in patients with hepatitis C and / or infected with HIV].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis E virus (HEV) can cause chronic infection and cirrhosis. The seroprevalence data of anti-HEV IgG in the patients infected with HIV or with chronic liver disease are scarce.
  
  
  METHODS
  To document the seroprevalence of HEV infection in HIV patients or with chronic liver disease population, a retrospective study in serum samples from 625 patients was carried on: 200 HIV infected, 200 HCV infected, 25 coinfected by HIV and HCV and 200 healthy controls. Anti-HVE IgG antibodies were determined in serum samples by a commercial immunoassay (EIA) and all positive samples were studied further for the presence of anti-HEV IgM antibodies (HEV IgM 3.0; DiaSorin, Turín, Italy). Positive HEV IgM antibody specimens were examined for HEV RNA by polymerase chain reaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Anti-HEV IgG were reactive in 25 (12.5%) of the 200 HIV-infected patients, in 47 out of 200 HCV infected patients (23.5%), 10 out of 25 coinfected HIV-HCV group (40%) and 24 out of 200 healthy controls (12%). According to EIA anti-HEV IgM, 11 patients could be considered as acute hepatitis E cases but in only one of them was confirmed recent HEV infection by RT-PCR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The higher seroprevalence was found in HIV-HCV coinfected patients. The only patient with HEV RNA was HIV-HCV coinfected.
authors.affiliation: Mª Fátima López-Fabal, Servicio de Microbiología. Hospital Universitario de Móstoles C/ Río Júcar s/n. 28935-Móstoles (Madrid), Spain. flopezf@salud.madrid.org.
authors.forename: Ma Fátima
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: López-Fabal
authors.forename: José Luís
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Gómez-Garcés
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D014766:Viremia / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D012367:RNA, Viral