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Acute sporadic hepatitis E in Kuwait.

Abstract

Fifty-seven adult patients with acute hepatitis and 34 comparison patients without liver disease were evaluated using a newly developed Western blot assay for IgM antibody to hepatitis E virus. The mean age of patients with hepatitis was 32 years (range, 18-55 years); 88% were male. Among patients with acute hepatitis, hepatitis A (anti-HAV IgM positive) was diagnosed in two (4%), hepatitis B (anti-HBc IgM positive) in three (5%), and hepatitis E (anti-HEV IgM positive) in 34 (60%). One hepatitis patient had CMV IgM, another had EBV IgM, and 16 others (28%) were negative for all serologic markers of acute viral hepatitis. No patient with acute hepatitis A or B and none of the comparison patients without acute hepatitis had anti-HEV IgM. All but one case of acute hepatitis E were found among expatriates of Asian origin, and acute hepatitis E was associated significantly with recent travel to the Indian subcontinent. These data suggest that acute hepatitis E is common among foreign workers in Kuwait but that little HEV transmission is occurring directly in Kuwait.

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BibTeXRIS

A Koshy, A L Richards, S al-Mufti, S Grover, M A Shabrawy, A Pacsa, H al-Anezi, B al-Nakib, J Burans, M Carl. 1994. Acute sporadic hepatitis E in Kuwait.. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.1890420413

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