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Beitr Infusionsther Transfusionsmed 1994;32:124-127
[Hepatitis E antibodies in blood donors, hemodialysis patients
and in normal people].
[Article in German] Knodler B, Hiller J, Loliger CC, Kuhnl L Abteilung fur
Transfusionsmedizin und Transplantationsimmunologie, Universitats-Krankenhaus
Eppendorf, Hamburg, Deutschland.
A substantial proportion of cases of enterically transmitted acute viral hepatitis
occurring in young to middle-aged adults in Asia and the Indian subcontinent
is caused by the Hepatitis E virus (HEV). It is transmitted mainly by contaminated
drinking water and is associated with a high mortality rate (up to 20%) in pregnant
women. Chronic forms of Hepatitis E are not known. An enzyme immunoassay (EIA)
for the detection of IgG antibodies to Hepatitis E (Abbott), based on two recombinant
HEV antigens, yielded repeatedly reactive results in 5 of 250 (2%) blood donors,
13 of 543 (2.4%) healthy employees from four firms in Hamburg, and in 5 of 150
(3.3%) hemodialysis patients. Supplemental testing by two synthetic peptide
EIAs and by Western Blot confirmed positive results in 22/23 samples. None of
the samples was IgM antibody-positive. Since no transfusion-transmitted cases
of Hepatitis E have been observed so far, HEV assays seem to be more useful
for differential diagnosis of viral hepatitis than for the screening of donors
in the blood bank setting.
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