title: Hepatitis E virus seroprevalence in pregnant women in Jiangsu, China, and postpartum evolution during six years.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  China is an endemic area for hepatitis E virus (HEV). The previous surveys of anti-HEV seroprevalence are cross-sectional. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of infection among pregnant women and their children in Jiangsu, China, and to observe postpartum anti-HEV evolution.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sera from 497 women collected during pregnancy and 6-year postpartum and from their 497 children were screened for anti-HEV by ELISA and confirmed by Western blotting. HEV RNA was detected by reverse transcription-nested PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the pregnant women, 3 (0.6 %) were anti-HEV IgM positive and 55 (11.1 %) were IgG positive. At 6-year postpartum, 18 anti-HEV IgG positive samples became negative and 18 others became IgG positive; the accumulated prevalence in this cohort of women was at least 14.7 % (73/497). Of the 497 children, the positive rates of anti-HEV IgM and IgG were 0.2 % and 0.4 %, respectively. None of the 18 children from mothers with anti-HEV IgG seroconversion was anti-HEV IgG positive.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data indicate that the constant seroprevalence of anti-HEV IgG in adults may be resulted from the balance of negative seroconversion due to waning immunity and positive seroconversion due to novel infections, and the risk of intra-family transmission of HEV was low. The data also imply that cross-sectional seroepidemiological survey may underestimate the prevalence of HEV infection, due to the natural decay of pathogen-specific IgG.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China. ggy.nj@vip.tom.com.
authors.forename: Guangyu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China. hhy_fish@163.com.|Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China. hhy_fish@163.com.
authors.forename: Hongyu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China. happyzhang80@163.com.|Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China. happyzhang80@163.com.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China. biyc-1970@163.com.
authors.forename: Yongchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China. dtylhu@126.com.|Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China. dtylhu@126.com.
authors.forename: Yali
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China. zgr03summer@126.com.|Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China. zgr03summer@126.com.|Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008, China. zgr03summer@126.com.
authors.forename: Yi-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011247:Pregnancy; D037841:Pregnant People; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D012367:RNA, Viral