Journal article
A Nationwide Survey of Hepatitis E Virus Infection and Chronic Hepatitis E in Liver Transplant Recipients in Japan
EBioMedicine, Vol.2(11), pp.1607-1612
11/01/2015
DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.09.030
PMCID: PMC4740318
PMID: 26870785
Abstract
Background: Recently, chronic hepatitis E has been increasingly reported in organ transplant recipients in European countries. In Japan, the prevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection after transplantation remains unclear, so we conducted a nationwide cross-sectional study to clarify the prevalence of chronic HEV infection in Japanese liver transplant recipients.
Methods: A total of 1893 liver transplant recipients in 17 university hospitals in Japan were examined for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgM and IgA classes of anti-HEV antibodies, and HEV RNA in serum.
Findings: The prevalence of anti-HEV IgG, IgM and IgA class antibodies was 2.9% (54/1893), 0.05% (1/1893) and 0% (0/1893), respectively. Of 1651 patients tested for HEV RNA, two patients (0.12%) were found to be positive and developed chronic infection after liver transplantation. In both cases, HEV RNA was also detected in one of the blood products transfused at the perioperative period. Analysis of the HEV genomes revealed that the HEV isolates obtained from the recipients and the transfused blood products were identical in both cases, indicating transfusion-transmitted HEV infection.
Interpretation: The prevalence of HEV antibodies in liver transplant recipients was 2.9%, which is low compared with the healthy population in Japan and with organ transplant recipients in European countries; however, the present study found, for the first time, two Japanese patients with chronic HEV infection that was acquired via blood transfusion during or after liver transplantation. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- A Nationwide Survey of Hepatitis E Virus Infection and Chronic Hepatitis E in Liver Transplant Recipients in Japan
- Creators
- Yuki Inagaki - University of TsukubaYukio Oshiro - University of TsukubaTomohiro Tanaka - The University of TokyoTomoharu Yoshizumi - Kyushu UniversityHideaki Okajima - CatalystKohei Ishiyama - Hiroshima UniversityChikashi Nakanishi - Tohoku UniversityMasaaki Hidaka - Nagasaki UniversityHiroshi Wada - The University of OsakaTaizo Hibi - Keio UniversityKosei Takagi - Okayama UniversityMasaki Honda - Kumamoto UniversityKaori Kuramitsu - Kobe UniversityHideaki Tanaka - University of TsukubaTaiji Tohyama - Ehime UniversityToshihiko Ikegami - Ōtani UniversitySatoru Imura - Tokushima UniversityTsuyoshi Shimamura - Hokkaido UniversityYoshimi Nakayama - Juntendo UniversityTaizen Urahashi - Jichi Medical University HospitalKazumasa Yamagishi - University of TsukubaHiroshi Ohnishi - Jichi Medical University HospitalShigeo Nagashima - Jichi Medical University HospitalMasaharu Takahashi - Jichi Medical University HospitalKen Shirabe - Kyushu UniversityNorihiro Kokudo - The University of TokyoHiroaki Okamoto - Jichi Medical University HospitalNobuhiro Ohkohchi - University of Tsukuba
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- EBioMedicine, Vol.2(11), pp.1607-1612
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.09.030
- PMID
- 26870785
- PMCID
- PMC4740318
- NLM abbreviation
- EBioMedicine
- ISSN
- 2352-3964
- eISSN
- 2352-3964
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Number of pages
- 6
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 11/01/2015
- Academic Unit
- Gastroenterology and Hepatology; Internal Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984359563402771
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