Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is considered a neglected disease of major concern in developed countries. Clinically, HEV occurs as an acute and self‐limited disease, though chronic cases mostly associated to HEV‐3 are now being commonly reported in immunocompromised individuals and solid organ transplant recipients. Transmission of HEV through blood and derivatives have been increasingly described in the last years, highlighting the importance of including this agent on the screening programs. Since 2010 both acute and chronic hepatitis E cases have been frequently reported in Uruguay. However, updated prevalence data among different population groups are lacking and HEV is not currently screened in blood banks. Herein, we report a seroprevalence and molecular survey of HEV in 400 plasma samples from blood donors. Overall, our results showed an HEV seroprevalence rate of 10% (40/400); almost 10‐fold higher than 20 years ago. Total anti‐HEV immunoglobulin antibodies were found to increase with age. Moreover, we reported an RNA detection rate of at least 0.75%, and two strains were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis grouped them with human and swine HEV‐3 strains from Uruguay. Data presented here should prompt public health policies of HEV screening in blood banks to minimize the risk of transfusion‐transmitted hepatitis E.

中文翻译：

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乌拉圭献血者戊型肝炎病毒的血清学和分子流行率

戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）感染被认为是发达国家主要关注的被忽视的疾病。临床上，HEV 作为一种急性自限性疾病发生，尽管目前在免疫功能低下个体和实体器官移植受者中常见报告主要与 HEV-3 相关的慢性病例。近年来，越来越多地描述了通过血液和衍生物传播 HEV，这凸显了将这种药物纳入筛查计划的重要性。自2010年以来，乌拉圭经常报告急性和慢性戊型肝炎病例。然而，缺乏不同人群之间的最新流行率数据，目前血库中尚未筛查 HEV。在此，我们报告了 400 份献血者血浆样本中 HEV 的血清阳性率和分子调查。总体而言，我们的结果显示 HEV 血清阳性率为 10% (40/400)；比20年前增加了近10倍。研究发现，总抗HEV免疫球蛋白抗体随着年龄的增长而增加。此外，我们报道了至少 0.75% 的 RNA 检出率，并对两种菌株进行了测序。系统发育分析将它们与来自乌拉圭的人和猪 HEV-3 毒株归为一类。这里提供的数据应促进血库中 HEV 筛查的公共卫生政策，以尽量减少输血传播戊型肝炎的风险。