PREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS E VIRUS INFECTION ON CIRRHOTIC PATIENT POPULATION FROM ROSARIO

ACOSTA JULIÁN 1, GALIMBERTI ALCEO 2, MARZIALI FEDERICO 1, BESSONE FERNANDO 2, COSTAGUTA ALEJANDRO 3, TANNO HUGO 2, REGGIARDO VIRGINIA 2, GARDIOL DANIELA 1, CAVATORTA ANA LAURA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; XXVII CONGRESO 2022 ALEH; 2022

INTRODUCTION: Hepatitis E virus (HEV), with zoonotic transmission, is one of the main agents causing acute hepatitis. In individuals with chronic liver disease, infection can cause acute on chronic liver disease (ACLD) and can lead to fulminant liver failure.OBJECTIVE: To analyze the impact of HEV infection in a cohort of cirrhotic individuals from Rosario, Santa Fe. METHODS: Ninety-seven individuals (18-82 years old; male=61) with liver cirrhosis of different etiology were enrolled; among them, 57 were followed up over 2 years. Blood samples were obtained every 6 months and at the time of decompensation of the cirrhosis. IgG and IgM a-HEV were studied by ELISA and HEV RNA by RT-qPCR method optimized in our laboratory. As a control group, 154 blood donors (18-62 years old; male=90) were analyzed.RESULTS: We demonstrated a seroprevalence of IgG a-HEV of 5.2% (5/97) in cirrhotic population, compared to 3.2% obtained in the control group (p>0.05). The highest prevalence of IgG a-HEV was recorded in those cirrhotic patients with autoimmune and hepatitis C infection etiology (11.1% and 8.0%, respectively). Among the 57 patients in follow-up, 19 decompensated at least once (6 ACLD) and 18 died. In 3/19 (15.8%) IgG a-HEV was detected; however, only one of them (1/3) seroconverted 13 months after the start of the study, while the other two patients had detectable IgG a-HEV antibodies from the beginning of the study. Nevertheless, in these three individuals the presence of IgM and HEV RNA was not detected.CONCLUSION: Our study shows a higher prevalence of IgG a-HEV in the group of cirrhotic patients compared to the control group. However, no association was found between HEV infection and the decompensation events observed in the analyzed cohort.