Hepatitis E virus as a Cause of Acute Hepatitis in The Netherlands.

Recent studies indicate that 27% of Dutch blood donors have evidence of past infection with HEV. However, the low number of diagnosed HEV infections indicates either an asymptomatic course or under diagnosis.We investigated whether HEV is a cause of acute hepatitis in Dutch patients and which diagnostic modality (serology or PCR) should be used for optimal detection.Serum samples were retrospectively selected from non-severely immuno-compromised patients from a university hospital population, suspected of having an infectious hepatitis. Criteria were: elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT>... Mehr ...