title: Hepatitis E: prevention and treatment.
abstract: Infection with the hepatitis E virus (HEV) is very common worldwide. The epidemiology, viral genotypes, and transmission routes differ between low-resource countries and economically developed countries. These differences have resulted in the design of diverse prevention and treatment strategies to combat HEV.
  
  
  
  The population seroprevalence of HEV immunoglobulin G varies between 5 and 50%. However, the diagnosis of acute hepatitis from HEV has not been common in the United States or Western Europe. Chronic progressive HEV infections have been reported among patients who are immunocompromised. Successful treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis from HEV infection with antiviral agents, such as ribavirin or interferon-α, has been reported. Extrahepatic manifestations of HEV infection are common. Large epidemics of hundreds or thousands of cases continue to be reported among populations in Asia and Africa. A subunit peptide HEV vaccine has been found to be highly efficacious in a large clinical trial. However, the vaccine has not been evaluated in populations of pregnant women or other risk groups and is only available in China.
  
  
  
  Although HEV infections are increasingly recognized as a global public health problem, there are few methods for prevention and treatment that are widely available.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Epidemiology bDepartment of International Health cDepartment of Environmental Health Sciences, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Kenrad E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Christopher D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Heaney
authors.forename: Alain B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Labrique
authors.forename: Brittany L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Kmush
authors.forename: Lisa J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Krain
mesh_terms: D005517:Foodborne Diseases; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines
chemical_list: D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines