Hepatitis E virus infection and acute-on-chronic liver failure in West Africa: a case-control study from The Gambia.
Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2016;
43:375-84. [PMID:
26623967 DOI:
10.1111/apt.13484]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2015] [Revised: 09/17/2015] [Accepted: 11/04/2015] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
In sub-Saharan Africa, it is unknown whether hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is a common precipitating event of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF).
AIMS
To estimate the prevalence of HEV infection in general population and assess whether HEV is a common trigger of ACLF in cirrhotic patients in The Gambia, West Africa.
METHODS
We first conducted an HEV sero-survey in healthy volunteers. We then tested cirrhotic patients with ACLF (cases) and compensated cirrhosis (controls) for anti-HEV IgG as a marker of exposure to HEV, and anti-HEV IgA and HEV RNA as a marker of recent infection. We also described the characteristics and survival of the ACLF cases and controls.
RESULTS
In the healthy volunteers (n = 204), 13.7% (95% CI: 9.6-19.2) were positive for anti-HEV IgG, and none had positive HEV viraemia. After adjusting for age and sex, the following were associated with positive anti-HEV IgG: being a Christian, a farmer, drinking water from wells, handling pigs and eating pork. In 40 cases (median age: 45 years, 72.5% male) and 71 controls (39 years, 74.6% male), ≥70% were infected with hepatitis B virus. Although hepatitis B flare and sepsis were important precipitating events of ACLF, none had marker of acute HEV. ACLF cases had high (70.0%) 28-day mortality.
CONCLUSIONS
Hepatitis E virus infection is endemic in The Gambia, where both faecal-oral route (contaminated water) and zoonotic transmission (pigs/pork meat) may be important. However, acute HEV was not a common cause of acute-on-chronic liver failure in The Gambia.
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