Hepatitis E

Hepatitis E is a viral hepatitis (liver inflammation) caused by infection with a virus called hepatitis E virus. It is one of five known human hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E. HEV is a positive-sense, single-stranded, nonenveloped, RNA icosahedral virus; HEV has a fecal-oral transmission route. Infection with this virus was first documented in 1955 during an outbreak in New Delhi, India. A preventive vaccine (HEV 239) is approved for use in China. Although hepatitis E often causes an acute and self-limiting infection (the virus usually resolves itself and the individual recovers) with low mortality rates in the western world, it bears a high risk of developing chronic hepatitis in immunocompromised patients with substantial mortality rates. Organ transplant recipients who receive immunosuppressive medication to prevent rejection are thought to be the main population at risk for chronic hepatitis E. Furthermore, in healthy individuals during the duration of the infection, the disease severely impairs a person’s ability to work, care for family members, and perform other daily activities. Hepatitis E occasionally develops into an acute, severe liver disease, and is fatal in about 2% of all cases. Clinically, it is comparable to hepatitis A, but in pregnant women, the disease is more often severe and is associated with a clinical syndrome called fulminant liver failure. Pregnant women, especially those in the third trimester, suffer an elevated mortality rate from the disease of around 20%.