Hepatitis E Infections, Victoria, Australia

Abstract

In the first half of 2004, acute hepatitis E virus infections diagnosed in Victoria, Australia, increased 7-fold. Of the interviewed patients with highly reactive serologic results, 90% reported recent clinically compatible illness and overseas travel. The increase is compared with a background of exposure in countries in which hepatitis E is endemic.

Keywords

• dispatch
• hepatitis E virus
• communicable diseases
• serologic tests
• epidemiology
• tropical medicine