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Prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis E virus in residents of a district in Havana, Cuba
Author(s) -
Quintana Ariel,
Sanchez Lizet,
Larralde Osmany,
Anderson David
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.20324
Subject(s) - hepatitis e virus , virology , antibody , virus , hepatitis a virus , medicine , hepatitis a , biology , hepatitis , immunology , genotype , biochemistry , gene
A seroepidemiological study of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection was conducted in a district of Havana, where hepatitis A virus (HAV) is considered endemic. The levels of anti‐HEV antibodies were evaluated by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on the recombinant protein GST‐ORF2.1. Anti‐HEV antibodies were detected in 11 of 209 (5.3%) of serum samples, compared to 71.3% for anti‐HAV antibodies. No risk factors reported previously for HEV infection showed a significant association with the presence of anti‐HEV antibodies, whereas anti‐HAV antibodies were strongly associated with increasing age. HEV may be considered endemic in this area and is likely to have a significant clinical impact. J. Med. Virol. 76:69–70, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.