Seroprevalence of Anti-Hepatitis E Virus Antibodies among Patients from a Tertiary Hospital from Northeast Romania
Ioana Florina Mihai,
Dragos Anita,
Olivia Simona Dorneanu,
Catalina Mihaela Luca,
Carmen Doina Manciuc,
Cristian Constantin Budacu,
Florin Manuel Roșu,
Gheorghe Savuta,
Adriana Anita,
Andrei Vâţă
Affiliations
Ioana Florina Mihai
Infectious Diseases Department, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universității Street, 700116 Iași, Romania
Dragos Anita
Regional Center of Advanced Research for Emerging Diseases Zoonoses and Food Safety (ROVETEMERG), “Ion Ionescu de la Brad” University of Life Sciences, 3 Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490 Iași, Romania
Olivia Simona Dorneanu
Microbiology Department, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universității Street, 700116 Iași, Romania
Catalina Mihaela Luca
Infectious Diseases Department, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universității Street, 700116 Iași, Romania
Carmen Doina Manciuc
Infectious Diseases Department, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universității Street, 700116 Iași, Romania
Cristian Constantin Budacu
Dento-Alveolar and Maxilo-Facial Surgery Department, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universității Street, 700116 Iași, Romania
Florin Manuel Roșu
Infectious Diseases Department, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universității Street, 700116 Iași, Romania
Gheorghe Savuta
Regional Center of Advanced Research for Emerging Diseases Zoonoses and Food Safety (ROVETEMERG), “Ion Ionescu de la Brad” University of Life Sciences, 3 Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490 Iași, Romania
Adriana Anita
Regional Center of Advanced Research for Emerging Diseases Zoonoses and Food Safety (ROVETEMERG), “Ion Ionescu de la Brad” University of Life Sciences, 3 Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490 Iași, Romania
Andrei Vâţă
Infectious Diseases Department, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 16 Universității Street, 700116 Iași, Romania
Background and Objectives. Being an enterically transmitted pathogen with a growing prevalence in developed countries, hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection remains an underdiagnosed disease in Eastern Europe. As far as Romania is concerned, only a few studies address this issue. Our goal was to estimate the prevalence of serum anti-HEV IgA/IgM/IgG antibodies in a group of patients admitted to the Clinical Hospital for Infectious Diseases “St. Parascheva” Iasi. Materials and Methods. The cross-sectional study consisted of enrollment of 98 patients admitted to the clinic for COVID-19 over a period of three months in 2020. Results. The median age in our study was 73 years, with an equal gender ratio and with a predominance of people from the urban environment (75%). The overall HEV antibody seroprevalence was 12.2%. The main risk factors associated with HEV infection were consumption of water from unsafe sources (58.3% HEV-positive patients vs. 26.7% HEV-negative patients, p = 0.026) and improperly cooked meat (58.3% HEV-positive patients vs. 23.2% HEV-negative patients, p = 0.01). Zoonotic transmission was an important criterion in our study, with patients reporting contact with pigs, poultry, rats, or other farms animals, but no significant differences were found between HEV antibody positive and negative groups. Conclusions. The seroprevalence rate of HEV antibodies was similar to other previous reports from our area but higher than in most European countries. The fact that HEV antibodies were detected in patients without identifiable risk factors for hepatitis E is evidence of subclinical infection as a silent threat.
