title: Acute and Chronic Hepatitis E Virus Infection in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected U.S. Women.
abstract: Exposure to hepatitis E virus (HEV) is common in the United States, but there are few data on prevalence of HEV/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection in U.S.
  
  
  METHODS
  We tested 2,919 plasma samples collected from HIV-infected (HIV(+)) women and men enrolled in U.S. cohort studies for HEV viremia using a high-throughput nucleic acid testing (NAT) platform. NAT(+) samples were confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Samples were selected for testing primarily on the basis of biomarkers of liver disease and immune suppression. Prevalence of HEV viremia was 3 of 2,606 and 0 of 313 in tested plasma samples collected from HIV(+) women and men, respectively. All HEV isolates were genotype 3a. Based on follow-up testing of stored samples, 1 woman had chronic HEV infection for >4 years whereas 2 women had acute HEV detectable at only a single study visit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of chronic HEV infection in an HIV(+) U.S. individual. We also confirm that chronic HEV infection can persist despite a CD4(+) count >200 cells/mm(3). Overall, though, these data suggest that HEV infection is rare in the HIV(+) U.S. population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Kuniholm
authors.affiliation: Hologic, Inc., San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Edgar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.affiliation: Sanquin Research and Diagnostics, Departments of Virology, Blood-borne Infections and the National Screening Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Boris M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hogema
authors.affiliation: Sanquin Research and Diagnostics, Departments of Virology, Blood-borne Infections and the National Screening Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koppelman
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.|Department of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Anastos
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA.
authors.forename: Marion G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Eric C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Seaberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Kenrad E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Hologic, Inc., San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Linnen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014766:Viremia / Q000821:virology