Hepatitis E seroprevalans in HIV patients

DAHA SONRA DOLDURULACAKTIR.Introduction and Aim: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is usually an acute selflimiting disease, which causes rapidly progressive cirrhosis and chronic infection in patients with hematological malignancy, chemotherapy and in individuals with HIV. The aim of this study that we think it is a first for our country was to investigate the seroprevalence of HEV in HIV-positive patients. Material and method: In this study, plasma samples of patients who applied to Sakarya University Training and Research Hospital Clinical Microbiology Laboratory between October 2017 and December 2018 were evaluated for anti-HEV IgG and IgM. The study group consisted of 126 patients with HIV infection. Firstly, Anti-HEV IgG antibodies detected from the plasma samples we collected, then AntiHEV IgM was detected by ELFA (enzyme linked fluorescent assay) kits (bioMerueux, France) in patients with positive anti-HEV IgG. In addition, ALT, AST, CD4, CD8, HIV RNA viral load values and Anti-HCV, HBsAg and VDRL results were evaluated. Results: Of the study group, 114 (90.5%) were male and 12 (9.5%) were female. The mean age was 38.11 ± 13.32 (min: 18, max: 80) years. In the study, anti-HEV IgG was positive in 5 (4.0%) of HIV positive patients. In one of the anti-HEV IgG positive patients, the HIV diagnosis was new and the other 4 patients were followed up because of HIV positivity. Anti-HEV IgM was not positive in any patient. None of the patients with anti-HEV IgG positivity had anti-HCV and HBsAg positivity. Anti-HAV IgG was positive in 77 (61.1%) patients and Anti-HAV IgM was negative in all patients. Anti-HCV positivity was detected in 2 (1.6%) patients, HBsAg positivity was found in 8 (6.3%) patients and VDRL positivity was found in 18 (14.3%) patients. No statistically significant difference was found between the patients with anti-HEV IgG positive for ALT, AST, CD4 and CD8, HIV viral load values (p> 0.05 for each). Conclusion: Anti-HEV IgG positivity was found 4% in HIV-positive individuals and HCV and HBV co-infection were not detected in any patient with HIV-HEV. HEV infections should not be a priority among HIV-infected individuals, but HEV xii should also be investigated in individuals with HIV with liver abnormalities with unclear etiology. Key words: Hepatitis E, HIV infection, seroprevalence