Objective: To understand the prevalence of sub-clinical infection of hepatitis E virus (HEV) among blood donors.
Methods: A cluster sampling strategy was used to sample all blood donors from July to August in 2002 in Beijing. Their blood was tested for IgM and IgG antibody against HEV.
Results: The prevalence of anti-HEV IgM among blood donors in Beijing was 1.74%. The rate of abnormal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in anti-HEV IgM positive donors is significantly higher than anti-HEV IgM negative donors. Among all ALT abnormal donors, 2.68% can be associated with HEV sub-clinical infection. The percentage is similar with HBV but higher than HCV.
Conclusion: There are sub-clinical infection of HEV among blood donors, which is one of the cause of abnormal ALT in the donors.