Hepatitis E (patient information)

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Hepatitis E

Overview

What are the symptoms?

What are the causes?

Who is at highest risk?

When to seek urgent medical care?

Diagnosis

Treatment options

Where to find medical care for Hepatitis E?

What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?

Possible complications

Hepatitis E On the Web

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NICE Guidance

FDA on Hepatitis E

CDC on Hepatitis E

Hepatitis E in the news

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Directions to Hospitals Treating Hepatitis E

Risk calculators and risk factors for Hepatitis E

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Priyamvada Singh, M.B.B.S; João André Alves Silva, M.D. [2]

Overview

Hepatitis E is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis E virus. The hepatitis E virus is transmitted mainly through contaminated drinking water. It is usually a self-limiting infection and resolves within 4–6 weeks. Occasionally, a fulminant form of hepatitis develops (acute liver failure), which can lead to death.

What are the symptoms?

The incubation period following exposure to the hepatitis E virus ranges from three to eight weeks, with a mean of 40 days.

The incidence of hepatitis E is highest in adults between the ages of 15 and 40. Though children often contract this infection as well, they less frequently become symptomatic.

Typical signs and symptoms of hepatitis include:

Some patients have asymptomatic infection.





These symptoms are largely indistinguishable from those experienced during any acute phase of hepatic illness and typically last for one to two weeks.

In rare cases, acute hepatitis E can result in fulminant hepatitis (acute liver failure) and death. Fulminant hepatitis occurs more frequently during pregnancy. Pregnant women are at greater risk of obstetrical complications and mortality from hepatitis E, which can induce a mortality rate of 20% among pregnant women in their third trimester.

Cases of chronic hepatitis E infection have been reported in immunosuppressed people. Reactivation of hepatitis E infection has also been reported in immunocompromised people.

Diagnosis

The following tests are done to identify and monitor liver damage from hepatitis B:

  • Albumin level
  • Liver function tests
  • Prothrombin time
  • Antibody test

Transmission

The hepatitis E virus is transmitted mainly through the fecal-oral route due to fecal contamination of drinking water.

Other transmission routes have been identified, including:

Although humans are considered the natural host for the hepatitis E virus, antibodies to the hepatitis E virus or closely related viruses have been detected in primates and several other animal species.

Hepatitis E is a waterborne disease, and contaminated water or food supplies have been implicated in major outbreaks.

The risk factors for hepatitis E are related to poor sanitation in large areas of the world and shedding of the hepatitis E virus in faeces.

Treatment options

Hepatitis E usually resolves on its own over several weeks to months.

Possible Complications

Chronic hepatitis, Liver failure

What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?

Prognosis mostly is good with only few patients developing chronic hepatitis

Prevention

Improving sanitation is the most important measure, which consists in proper treatment and disposal of human waste, higher standards for public water supplies, improved personal hygiene procedures and sanitary food preparation. Thus, prevention strategies of this disease are similar to those of many others that plague developing nations, and they require large-scale international financing of water supply and water treatment projects. A vaccine based on recombinant viral proteins has been developed

Diseases with similar symptoms

Sources

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/viralhepatitis/#hepe World Health organization


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