The results of a recent study conducted at the Vienna General Hospital, led by Prof. Thomas Reiberger and Dr. David Bauer, showed that mortality due to acute hepatitis E is low despite liver function is temporarily impaired in severe cases.
In a retrospective study conducted at the Vienna General Hospital overlooking a time period of 10 years (between 2008-2018), 151 individuals with a positive Hepatitis E test (IgM or PCR; out of 88 945 people tested) were identified.
Of these patients, 7 (4.6%) had non-severe acute Hepatitis E infection (ALT 2-5x upper limit of normal), 11 (7.3%) had severe Hepatitis E infection (ALT ≥ 5x upper limit of normal) without liver dysfunction, and 9 (6.0%) had liver dysfunction.
Despite increased testing rates – likely due to higher awareness for hepatitis E among clinicians, the number of diagnosed Hepatitis E infections at the Vienna General Hospital remained constant over the study period.
The Hepatitis E virus genotype was available in 7 patients and identified as genotype 1 in 71.4% of cases and genotype 3 in 28.6% of catses. 80% of genotype 1 cases had reported recent travels to Hepatitis E endemic areas. Approximately half of the patients with severe Hepatitis E infection required hospitalization, but admissions to the intensive care unit and short-term mortality were very low.
The authors concluded that although approximately half of the patients with severe acute HEV infection required hospitalization, admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU) and short-term mortality were low.
Read the full article (Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift 2022 Dec 22): DOI: 10.1007/s00508-022-02126-8
