Enterically transmitted hepatitis in the third millennium in northeastern Romania

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Enterically transmitted hepatitis in the third millennium in northeastern Romania Via Experimental and therapeutic medicine Exp Ther Med. 2021 Mar;21(3):274. doi: 10.3892/etm.2021.9705. Epub 2021 Jan 25. ABSTRACT While the incidence of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections has decreased in the last few years, the incidence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) is increasing in developed countries. Both infections remain a worldwide reality, strongly related to socio-economic conditions. We retrospectively analyzed the medical files of patients with viral hepatitis hospitalized in the Infectious Disease Hospital Iasi, Romania between 2018 and 2019. The serological confirmed cases of HAV and HEV infections were included in the analysis; included in our analysis were 269 HAV-infected patients. The most affected were males (53.9% cases) aged between 8 and 15 years (53.6% cases). Severe infections were recorded at admission in 2.24% cases and evolution was favorable under supportive and symptomatic treatment. Only three adult males, with no recent history of travel, were conf irmed with HEV infection. Even though we have identified a small number of cases, recent studies performed in our region found a seroprevalence of 32.5% in the general population, possibly related to zoonotic transmission. While outbreaks of HAV infection are still noted in our region, a lack of hospitalized HEV-infected patients suggest that most cases are asymptomatic or underdiagnosed. HEV infection remains an underreported disease, possibly due to misdiagnosis, subclinical or dual hepatitis infection, but with a significant risk in vulnerable categories, such as pregnant women or immunosuppressed patients. PMID:33603881 | PMC:PMC7851663 | DOI:10.3892/etm.2021.9705 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.