Prevalence and Diversity of Hepatitis Virus Markers among Patients with Acute Febrile Jaundice in Chad

Abstract

Only a minority of the patients with acute febrile jaundice evaluated through the Yellow Fever surveillance program were found positive for antibodies against Yellow Fever Virus (YFV). In order to characterize patients with acute febrile jaundice negative for YFV, we collected 255 sera between January to December 2019. We screened for HBV antigens, and antibodies against HCV and HEV. The seroprevalences observed were 10.6% (27/255) for HBV, 2% (5/255) for HCV, 17.3% (44/255) for HEV IgG, 4.3% (11/255) for HEV IgM, and 12.5% (32/255) for both IgG and IgM HEV. Prevalence of HEV was significantly higher in females than males (p p = 0.003). The high prevalence rates and hepatitis virus diversity underline the challenge of routine clinical diagnosis in Chad’s Yellow Fever surveillance program.

Keywords

• hepatitis virus
• Yellow Fever Virus
• Yellow Fever surveillance program
• Chad