Abstract
Exposure to hepatitis E virus (HEV) is common in the United States, but there are few data on prevalence of HEV/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection in U.S. populations. We tested 2,919 plasma samples collected from HIV-infected (HIV+) women and men enrolled in U.S. cohort studies for HEV viremia using a high-throughput nucleic acid testing (NAT) platform. NAT+ samples were confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Samples were selected for testing primarily on the basis of biomarkers of liver disease and immune suppression. Prevalence of HEV viremia was 3 of 2,606 and 0 of 313 in tested plasma samples collected from HIV+ women and men, respectively. All HEV isolates were genotype 3a. Based on follow-up testing of stored samples, 1 woman had chronic HEV infection for >4 years whereas 2 women had acute HEV detectable at only a single study visit. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of chronic HEV infection in an HIV+ U.S. individual. We also confirm that chronic HEV infection can persist despite a CD4+ count >200 cells/mm3. Overall, though, these data suggest that HEV infection is rare in the HIV+ U.S. population.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 712-720 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Hepatology |
Volume | 63 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 1 2016 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Hepatology