TOC |
GI
Hepatitis E
Hepatitis E is a newly characterized fecal/oral transmitted RNA virus. It is a cause or sporatic & epidemia hepatitis in developing countries.
Its clinical features are very similar to acute viral hepatitis A, however, the disease carries a high mortality rate of up to 20% among infected pregnant women.
It may be diagnosed using an anti-HEV antibody in both the acute & convalescent phase serum samples, done using an immunoassay technique which is available at the Centers for Disease control.