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Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is considered to be the main etiological agent of enterically transmitted non A, nonB hepatitis. This form of acute hepatitis has caused epidemic outbreaks in many developing countries, and hepatitis E infections have been sporadically observed in industrialised countries. We studied the prevalence of HEV antibodies in a population of 72 hemodialysis patients (30 women, 42 men)
The prevalence of HEV antibodies in our hemodialysis population is considerably high (% 13.9). Among our HEV antibody positive Patients, 7 of 10 were also HCV antibody positive, 3 of 10 were HBs Ag positive and 22 of 10 had HEV, HCV antibodies and were HBs Ag positive.
These results suggest that orofa ecal transmission may not be the only route of transmission of HEV. In hemodialysis patients, confirmation of our results by testing for HEV markers in other hemodialysis units will clarify this issue further.