Hepatitis E prevalence in French Polynesian blood donors.

Chloé Dimeglio,Jacques Izopet,Florence Abravanel,Frédéric Beau,Julien Broult,Patrice Gouy,Stéphane Lastère,Mark W Sonderup

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0208934

Abstract

The HEV seroprevalence in mainland France is elevated (22.4%). In contrast, anti-HEV seroprevalence appears to be lower in Oceania. However, none is available for French Polynesia. We assessed the anti-HEV IgG and IgM prevalence on samples from 300 consecutive blood donors living on Tahiti and Moorea islands. Epidemiological information was collected using a specific questionnaire. Overall IgM seroprevalence was 0.6% and overall IgG seroprevalence was 7.7%. The presence of anti-HEV IgG was associated with increasing age (p = 0.01), eating chicken offal (p = 0.01) and cooked rabbit (p = 0.02). Conversely, eating fafaru—traditional Polynesian condiment—was associated with a lower rate of anti-HEV IgG (p<0.01).). All donors who surfed or practiced va’a (traditional outrigger canoë) were HEV seronegative. The Polynesian lifestyle and the particular food consumption patterns—especially the very well cooked pork—may be the key to understand the low HEV seroprevalence in French Polynesia.

Highlights

HEV is recognized as one of the most common causes of acute viral hepatitis in the world [1]
Anti-HEV seroprevalence appears to be lower in Oceania, but data are available for only two countries: it is 4–9.7% in New Zealand [4, 5] and 6% in Australia [6]
The procedure followed was based the one usually used by the French Polynesia blood bank: donor information, questionnaire completed by the donor, written consent form for donation and use of data and blood for non-therapeutic purposes, interview and pre-donation medical examination, anonymization of the file and data

Summary

Introduction

HEV is recognized as one of the most common causes of acute viral hepatitis in the world [1]. The burden of HEV in industrialized countries on several continents has been investigated, with studies on the seroprevalence of anti-HEV immunoglobulin G (IgG) and the frequency of HEV RNA among asymptomatic blood donors worldwide. The seroprevalence of anti-HEV IgG in Europe varies from 4.7% in Scotland [2] to 29% in Germany [3]. Anti-HEV seroprevalence appears to be lower in Oceania, but data are available for only two countries: it is 4–9.7% in New Zealand [4, 5] and 6% in Australia [6]. Only few French department (3/98) had anti-HEV IgG seroprevalence

Methods

Results

Conclusion