• David J M Bauer, Stephan Aberle, Anna Farthofer, David Chromy, Benedikt Simbrunner, Mattias Mandorfer, Ralf Schmidt, Michael Trauner, Robert Strassl, Florian Mayer, Heidemarie Holzmann, and Thomas Reiberger.
• Vienna Hepatic Hemodynamic Laboratory, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine III, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
• Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. 2023 Feb 1; 135 (3-4): 576657-66.

BackgroundHepatitis E virus (HEV) infection can cause severe viral hepatitis and eventually liver failure. We aim to provide novel data on the epidemiology and the course of HEV infections from Q1/2008 to Q3/2018 at the Vienna General Hospital.MethodsOf the 88,945 people tested, we identified HEV-IgM positive (+) or HEV-PCR (+) patients and retrospectively collated information on the course of infection from patient records.ResultsAmong 151 HEV-IgM or PCR (+) (median age 51 years, 45.8% female), 7 (4.6%) had non-severe acute HEV infection (ALT ≥ 2-5-fold upper limit of normal, ULN), 11 (7.3%) had severe HEV infection without liver dysfunction (LD) (ALT > 5-fold ULN), and 9 (6.0%) with LD (ikterus or bilirubin > 5 mg/dL, OR coagulopathy or INR > 1.5, OR encephalopathy or ammonia > 100 µmol/L). HEV-RNA-PCR was performed in 58/190 (30.5%) HEV-IgM (+) patients and was positive in 19 (30.6%). Rates of HEV IgM/PCR positivity remained stable over the observation period. The HEV genotype (GT) was GT‑1 in 71.4% (n = 5) and GT‑3 in 28.6% (n = 2). Travel history was recorded for 9/20 (45.0%) of severe HEV and 12/20 (60.0%) patients with severe HEV infection were hospitalized. One patient with pre-existing liver disease and concomitant EBV infection required intensive care. No patient required transplantation and the 30-day mortality was 3/151 (1.9%). Despite the increased testing rates, the absolute number of diagnosed HEV infections at Vienna General Hospital remained constant between 2008 to 2018.ConclusionAlthough approximately half of the patients with severe acute HEV infection required hospitalization, admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU) and short-term mortality were low.© 2022. The Author(s).

17 keywords...

hide…