Hepatitis E Virus (HEV)

Record number: 
565
Adverse Occurrence type: 
MPHO Type: 
Alerting signals, symptoms, evidence of occurrence: 
Retrospective study. Abnormal liver function tests.
Demonstration of imputability or root cause: 
Six of 9 patients (2.1% of the total) were found to have HEV IgG antibodies in retrospect related to an HEV infection at some time pre-transplant as they also tested positive in a pretransplant serum sample. One of these 9 patients suffered in retrospect from a chronic HEV infection with mild hepatitis between 2 and 5 years after liver transplantation on the basis of the course of HEV RNA, IgM, and IgG, aminotransferases, and liver histology. Overall, the prevalence of acquired HEV hepatitis after liver transplantation was 1% in this cohort. It was concluded that liver transplant recipients have a risk for chronic HEV infection, but the prevalence is low.