HEPATITIS E VIRUS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE IN COLOMBIA

PRIETO JE, ; FANTILLI AC,; PISANO MB; MARTÍNEZ WASSAF M; GIAYETTO O; BALDERRAMO D,; RÉ, VE; DEBES, JOSÉ;; BOONSTRA A

Congreso; XXVIII Congreso 2023 ALEH (Asociación Latinoamericana para el estudio del hígado),; 2023

Asociación Latinoamericana para el estudio de Hígado

It is well-known that Hepatitis E virus (HEV) produces chronic hepatitis and higher infection rates in individuals with immunosuppression and/or chronic liver diseases (CLD). In Colombia, HEV-3 has been detected in pigs, water, and human samples; nevertheless, no studies on CLD individuals have been reported previously. This study aimed to describe the HEV infection frequency in CLD patients from Colombia.MethodsDuring 2020-2022, the presence of IgG anti-HEV by ELISA (Diapro, Italy) was evaluated in 260 and 60 serum samples from CLD patients and healthy controls, respectively, through the ESCALON network (www.escalon.eu) in Colombia. Causes of CLD included: hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, n=60), cirrhosis (CR, n=120), and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD, n=80). Statistical analysis was performed using RStudio-2023.3.0.386 and statistical significance was defined at p