Increased Hepatitis E Virus Seroprevalence Correlates with Lower CD4+ Cell Counts in HIV-Infected Persons in Argentina

DEBES J; MARTÍNEZ WASSAF MG; PISANO MB; ISA MB; LOTTO M; MARIANELLI LG; FRASSONE N; BALLARI E; BOHJANEN PR; HANSEN BE; RÉ VE

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2016 vol. 11

1932-6203

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a single-stranded RNA virus that can cause hepatitis in an epidemicfashion. HEV usually causes asymptomatic or limited acute infections in immunocompetentindividuals, whereas in immunosuppressed individuals such as transplantrecipients, HEV can cause chronic infections. The risks and outcomes of HEV co-infectionin patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are poorly characterized.Weused a third generation immunoassay to measure serum IgG antibodies specific for HEV in204 HIV-infected individuals from Argentina and a control group of 433 HIV-negative individuals.We found 15 of 204 (7.3%, 95%CI 3.74?10.96%) individuals in the HIV-positive groupto have positive HEV IgG levels suggestive of previous infection, compared to 19 of 433(4.4%, 95% CI 2.5?6.3%) individuals in the HIV-negative control group (p = 0.12). AmongHIV-positive individuals, those with HEV seropositivity had lower CD4 counts compared tothose that were HEV seronegative (average CD4 count of 234 vs 422 mm3, p = 0.01), indicatingthat patients with lower CD4 counts were more likely to be HEV IgG positive. Moreover,HEV seropositivity in patients with CD4 counts 200 mm3 (p = 0.012). We found a positive PCR result forHEV in one individual. Our study found that increased seroprevalence of HEV IgG correlatedwith lower CD4 counts in HIV-infected patients in Argentina.