SEROPREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS E VIRUS IN HIV-INFECTED PATIENTS FROM ROSARIO, SANTA FE

ACOSTA JULIÁN 1, GALIMBERTI ALCEO 2, MARZIALI FEDERICO 1, BESSONE FERNANDO 2, COSTAGUTA ALEJANDRO 3, ÁGUILA DAMIÁN 4, LUPO SERGIO 4, ROCHA DE LIMA BRUNO 4, TANNO HUGO 2, REGGIARDO VIRGINIA 2, GARDIOL DANIELA 1, CAVATORTA ANA LAURA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; XXVII CONGRESO 2022 ALEH; 2022

INTRODUCTION: Although HEV infection is asymptomatic or self-limiting in most individuals, in immunocompromised patients, such as those infected with HIV, viral replication can persist for more than 3 months leading to chronic infection with progression to cirrhosis. Argentina is considered a country with low endemicity for HEV; however, seroprevalence data in HIV-infected population are scarce and, to date, there are very few reports that provide accurate information on the impact of HEV infection in these immunosuppressed patients in our region.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of HEV infection in HIV-positive individuals from Rosario, Santa Fe.METHODS: We evaluated 97 HIV-positive individuals (19-74 years old; male=64) from Rosario. A blood serum sample was obtained from each patient after written informed consent. IgG and IgM a-HEV were analyzed by ELISA and HEV RNA by the RT-qPCR method previously optimized in our laboratory. As a control group, 154 blood donors (18-62 years old; male=90) were studied.RESULTS: The results indicate a seroprevalence of IgG a-HEV of 5.2% (5/97) in HIV individuals compared to 3.2% obtained in the control population (p>0.05). These 5 positive samples corresponded to male individuals and all were negative for IgM a-HEV. HEV RNA was not detected in any of the 97 samples tested, ruling out acute HEV infection.CONCLUSION: The results indicate a higher prevalence of IgG a-HEV in the HIV-positive population compared to the control group. The absence of HEV RNA in all the samples analyzed allow to discard active infections that can course with negative serology in this particular group of immunosuppressed individuals. This work provides updated data on the seroprevalence of IgG a-HEV in populations at risk, such as HIV-positive patients from our region.