High seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus in the Free State province of South Africa

Sindiswa S Maphumulo; Dominique Goedhals; Cornel van Rooyen; Sabeehah Vawda

doi:10.4102/sajid.v39i1.577

High seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus in the Free State province of South Africa

S Afr J Infect Dis. 2024 Mar 25;39(1):577. doi: 10.4102/sajid.v39i1.577. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Sindiswa S Maphumulo^{1

2}, Dominique Goedhals^{1

2

3}, Cornel van Rooyen⁴, Sabeehah Vawda^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Virology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
² Department of Virology, National Health Laboratory Service, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
³ Department of Virology, PathCare Laboratory, Pretoria, South Africa.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Abstract

The seroepidemiology of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in South Africa is limited. We investigated anti-HEV IgM and IgG, in residual hepatitis A, B, and C negative serology specimens, at our public sector Free State (FS) laboratory. Of 299 specimens (01 May-31 October 2020), 182/299 (60.9%) had anti-HEV IgG and 1/299 (0.33%) had anti-HEV IgM. High HEV seroprevalence across different age groups suggests a different epidemiology in the FS, necessitating further research.

Contribution: The need for HEV research in South Africa is highlighted. Clinicians should consider HEV in their differential diagnosis of patients with hepatitis.

Keywords: HEV seroepidemiology; hepatitis E South Africa; hepatitis E seroprevalence; hepatitis E virus; viral diseases; viral hepatitis.

Grants and funding

Funding information The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the NHLS Research Trust (grant number GRANT004_94843).