Abstract
Many epidemics of water-borne hepatitis have occurred throughout India. These were thought to be epidemics of hepatitis A until 1980, when evidence for an enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis was first reported. Subsequently, hepatitis E virus was discovered and most recent epidemics of enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis have been attributed to hepatitis E virus infection. However, only a limited number of cases have been confirmed by immuno electron microscopy, polymerase chain reaction, or seroconversion. In the present study we have performed a retrospective seroepidemiologic study of 17 epidemics of water-borne hepatitis in India. We have confirmed that 16 of the 17 epidemics were caused at least in part by serologically closely related hepatitis E viruses. However, one epidemic, in the Andaman Islands, and possibly a significant minority of cases in other epidemics, appears to have been caused by a previously unrecognized hepatitis agent.
Full text
PDFImages in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Arankalle V. A., Chadha M. S., Banerjee K., Srinivasan M. A., Chobe L. P. Hepatitis E virus infection in pregnant rhesus monkeys. Indian J Med Res. 1993 Jan;97:4–8. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Arankalle V. A., Chobe L. P., Jha J., Chadha M. S., Banerjee K., Favorov M. O., Kalinina T., Fields H. Aetiology of acute sporadic non-A, non-B viral hepatitis in India. J Med Virol. 1993 Jun;40(2):121–125. doi: 10.1002/jmv.1890400208. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Balayan M. S., Andjaparidze A. G., Savinskaya S. S., Ketiladze E. S., Braginsky D. M., Savinov A. P., Poleschuk V. F. Evidence for a virus in non-A, non-B hepatitis transmitted via the fecal-oral route. Intervirology. 1983;20(1):23–31. doi: 10.1159/000149370. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Doroshenko N. V., Smolina T. G., Zairov G. K., Stakhanova V. M. Serologicheskie dokazatel'stva sushchestvovaniia raznovidnosti gepatitia ni a, ni B s fekal'no-oral'nym mekhanizmom peredachi. Vopr Virusol. 1989 Mar-Apr;34(2):164–167. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Khuroo M. S. Study of an epidemic of non-A, non-B hepatitis. Possibility of another human hepatitis virus distinct from post-transfusion non-A, non-B type. Am J Med. 1980 Jun;68(6):818–824. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(80)90200-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mushahwar I. K., Dawson G. J., Bile K. M., Magnius L. O. Serological studies of an enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis in Somalia. J Med Virol. 1993 Jul;40(3):218–221. doi: 10.1002/jmv.1890400309. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ramalingaswami V., Purcell R. H. Waterborne non-A, non-B hepatitis. Lancet. 1988 Mar 12;1(8585):571–573. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(88)91362-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ray R., Jameel S., Manivel V., Ray R. Indian hepatitis E virus shows a major deletion in the small open reading frame. Virology. 1992 Jul;189(1):359–362. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(92)90716-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Reyes G. R., Purdy M. A., Kim J. P., Luk K. C., Young L. M., Fry K. E., Bradley D. W. Isolation of a cDNA from the virus responsible for enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis. Science. 1990 Mar 16;247(4948):1335–1339. doi: 10.1126/science.2107574. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Risbud A. R., Chadha M. S., Kushwah S. S., Arankalle V. A., Rodrigues F. M., Banerjee K. Non A non B hepatitis epidemic in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh. J Assoc Physicians India. 1992 Apr;40(4):262–264. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sreenivasan M. A., Banerjee K., Pandya P. G., Kotak R. R., Pandya P. M., Desai N. J., Vaghela L. H. Epidemiological investigations of an outbreak of infectious hepatitis in Ahmedabad city during 1975-76. Indian J Med Res. 1978 Feb;67:197–206. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sreenivasan M. A., Sehgal A., Prasad S. R., Dhorje S. A sero-epidemiologic study of a water-borne epidemic of viral hepatitis in Kolhapur City, India. J Hyg (Lond) 1984 Aug;93(1):113–122. doi: 10.1017/s002217240006099x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tam A. W., Smith M. M., Guerra M. E., Huang C. C., Bradley D. W., Fry K. E., Reyes G. R. Hepatitis E virus (HEV): molecular cloning and sequencing of the full-length viral genome. Virology. 1991 Nov;185(1):120–131. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(91)90760-9. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tsarev S. A., Emerson S. U., Reyes G. R., Tsareva T. S., Legters L. J., Malik I. A., Iqbal M., Purcell R. H. Characterization of a prototype strain of hepatitis E virus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Jan 15;89(2):559–563. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.2.559. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tsarev S. A., Tsareva T. S., Emerson S. U., Kapikian A. Z., Ticehurst J., London W., Purcell R. H. ELISA for antibody to hepatitis E virus (HEV) based on complete open-reading frame-2 protein expressed in insect cells: identification of HEV infection in primates. J Infect Dis. 1993 Aug;168(2):369–378. doi: 10.1093/infdis/168.2.369. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wong D. C., Purcell R. H., Sreenivasan M. A., Prasad S. R., Pavri K. M. Epidemic and endemic hepatitis in India: evidence for a non-A, non-B hepatitis virus aetiology. Lancet. 1980 Oct 25;2(8200):876–879. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(80)92045-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Yarbough P. O., Tam A. W., Fry K. E., Krawczynski K., McCaustland K. A., Bradley D. W., Reyes G. R. Hepatitis E virus: identification of type-common epitopes. J Virol. 1991 Nov;65(11):5790–5797. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.11.5790-5797.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]