A nationwide survey of hepatitis E viral infection in French blood donors

Most cases of hepatitis E viral (HEV) infection in developed countries are autochthonous. Nevertheless, the reported seroprevalence of HEV varies greatly depending on the geographical area and the performance of the immunoassay used. We used validated assays to determine the prevalence of anti‐HEV i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) Md.), 2016-04, Vol.63 (4), p.1145-1154
Main Authors: Mansuy, Jean Michel, Gallian, Pierre, Dimeglio, Chloé, Saune, Karine, Arnaud, Catherine, Pelletier, Bertrand, Morel, Pascal, Legrand, Dominique, Tiberghien, Pierre, Izopet, Jacques
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Blood Donors
Chi-Square Distribution
Cross-Sectional Studies
Disease Transmission, Infectious - statistics & numerical data
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Epidemiology
Female
France - epidemiology
Hepatitis
Hepatitis Antibodies - blood
Hepatitis E - epidemiology
Hepatitis E - etiology
Hepatitis E virus
Hepatitis E virus - isolation & purification
Hepatology
Humans
Immunoglobulin G
Immunoglobulin G - blood
Immunoglobulin G - immunology
Immunoglobulin M
Infections
Liver
Male
Meat
Middle Aged
Pork
Prevalence
Risk Assessment
Sausages
Seroepidemiologic Studies
Serology
Statistics, Nonparametric
Surveys and Questionnaires
Viral infections
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Summary:Most cases of hepatitis E viral (HEV) infection in developed countries are autochthonous. Nevertheless, the reported seroprevalence of HEV varies greatly depending on the geographical area and the performance of the immunoassay used. We used validated assays to determine the prevalence of anti‐HEV immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM among 10,569 French blood donors living in mainland France and three overseas areas. Epidemiological information was collected using a specific questionnaire. We found an overall IgG seroprevalence of 22.4% (8%‐86.4%) depending on the geographical area (P < 0.001). The presence of anti‐HEV IgG was associated with increasing age (P < 0.001) and eating pork meat (P = 0.03), pork liver sausages (P < 0.001), game meat (P < 0.01), offal (P < 0.001), and oysters (P = 0.02). Conversely, drinking bottled water was associated with a lower rate of anti‐HEV IgG (P = 0.02). Overall IgM seroprevalence was 1% (0%‐4.6%). The frequency of anti‐HEV IgM was higher in donors living in a high anti‐HEV IgG seroprevalence area (1.9% versus 0.7%, P < 0.001) and in those eating pork liver sausage (1.4% versus 0.7%, P < 0.01), pâté (1% versus 0.4, P = 0.04), and wild boar (1.3% versus 0.7%, P < 0.01). Conclusion: HEV is endemic in France and hyperendemic in some areas; eating habits alone cannot totally explain the exposure to HEV, and contaminated water could contribute to the epidemiology of HEV infection in France. (Hepatology 2016;63:1145–1154)
ISSN:0270-9139
1527-3350
DOI:10.1002/hep.28436