Brief Report

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

Sindiswa S. Maphumulo, Dominique Goedhals, Cornel van Rooyen, Sabeehah Vawda
Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases | Vol 39, No 1 | a577 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajid.v39i1.577 | © 2024 Sindiswa S. Maphumulo, Dominique Goedhals, Cornel van Rooyen, Sabeehah Vawda | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 20 September 2023 | Published: 25 March 2024

About the author(s)

Sindiswa S. Maphumulo, Department of Virology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa; and Department of Virology, National Health Laboratory Service, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Dominique Goedhals, Department of Virology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa; Department of Virology, National Health Laboratory Service, Bloemfontein, South Africa; and Department of Virology, PathCare Laboratory, Pretoria, South Africa
Cornel van Rooyen, Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Sabeehah Vawda, Department of Virology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa; Department of Virology, National Health Laboratory Service, Bloemfontein, South Africa; and Department of Virology, PathCare Laboratory, Pretoria, 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

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

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