Seroprevalence of Hepatitis E Virus in Roma Settlements: A Comparison with the General Population in Slovakia.

Monika Halánová,Daniel Pella,Martin Janičko,Zuzana Kalinová,Ingrid Babinská,Ingrid Urbančíková,Eduard Veseliny,Sylvia Dražilová,Peter Jarčuška

doi:10.3390/ijerph15050904

Abstract

Hepatitis E infection is one of the most frequent causes of acute hepatitis in the world. Currently five human genotypes with different geographical distributions and distinct epidemiologic patterns are identified. In Slovakia, only rare cases of hepatitis E have been reported in past years. Because the most important risk factors associated with HEV infection include consumption of contaminated pork meat and poor hygienic standards, the aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of anti-HEV total antibodies and the main risk factors for HEV in the population living in separated and segregated Roma settlements (n = 195), which represent places with increased risk of infection in Slovakia and to compare it with the prevalence in the general population (n = 69). Of 264 respondents included in the study, 47 (17.8%) showed positivity for anti-HEV antibodies, 42 of whom were Roma (21.5%, n = 195) and 5 (7.2%, n = 69) non-Roma. The population living in Roma settlements lives in poorer conditions and are at higher risk of HEV in comparison to the general population. However, differences in living conditions within the settlements do not contributed to lower risk of HEV antibody prevalence between Roma living in settlements.

Highlights

Hepatitis E infections, belonging to a group of emerging diseases, are caused by a single-stranded, positive-sense RNA hepatitis E virus (HEV) of the Hepeviridae family [1,2]
Because the most important risk factors associated with HEV infection include consumption of contaminated pork meat and poor hygienic standards, the aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of anti-HEV total antibodies and the main risk factors for HEV in the population living in separated and segregated Roma settlements, which represent in Slovakia the places with increased risk of infection
The aim of this study was to detect the prevalence of viral hepatis diseases, metabolic syndrome and selected bacterial and parasitic infectious diseases in the Roma population living in separated and segregated settlements and to compare the obtained results with the occurrence in the general population

Summary

Introduction

Hepatitis E infections, belonging to a group of emerging diseases, are caused by a single-stranded, positive-sense RNA hepatitis E virus (HEV) of the Hepeviridae family [1,2]. This family is divided into the two genera, Orthohepevirus which currently contains four species (Orthohepevirus A to D). Isolates of HEV infecting humans belong to the Orthohepevirus A species [3]. Eight genotypes (HEV1–HEV8) have been identified based on the nucleotide sequences of the genome in this species, the first four of which (HEV1–HEV4). The genotypes differ from each other by geographical distribution and distinct epidemiological and disease patterns, including sources of. Public Health 2018, 15, 904; doi:10.3390/ijerph15050904 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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