Hepatitis E virus infection in pregnant women and blood donors in Jinan

Abstract

Objective To study the hepatitis E virus(HEV) infection in pregnant women and the healthy blood donors in Jinan. Methods A total of 651 blood samples from pregnant women who came for screening of hemolytic disease of newborn and 600 blood samples from blood donors were collected during June 2015 to October 2016. All the blood samples were tested for anti-HEV IgG and anti-HEV IgM antibodies by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results Anti-HEV IgG was positive in 2.61% (17/651) of the blood samples from the pregnant women, and none of the samples were positive for anti-HEV IgM. The serum positive rates for anti-HEV IgG and IgM in blood donors were 16.33% (98/600) and 0.83% (5/600) respectively. The seroprevalence of the two groups was significantly different(χ2=70.43, P<0.0001). Conclusions The HEV infection rate in pregnant women was much lower compared with that in blood donors in Jinan; however, in view of the high mortality of HEV infection in pregnant women, it still cannot be neglected. The infection of HEV in blood donors of Jinan was confirmed, suggesting the potential risk of transfusion-transmitted HEV infection. Key words: Hepatitis E virus; Pregnant women; Blood donors; IgG; IgM