In Europe virus infections of hepatitis E (HEV) are mainly caused by genotype 3. The highest seroprevalence for anti-HEV IgG in our continent is found in the Netherlands where it reaches 27% of the donors, followed by France 23.6%; Spain with 20%; Denmark 19.8%; England and Wales 12%.
The study was aimed at investigating the prevalence of HEV in serum of Irish donators. Anonymized samples from 1076 donations collected in 2012 were tested for HEV immunoglobulin (Ig)G. A total of 24,985 anonymized donations collected between December 2013 and June 2014 were tested for HEV RNA. Seroprevalence for anti-HEV IgG was 5.3%: it was higher in male donors aged over 60 years where it reached 33.3%. The HEV- RNA was found in only 0,02% of samples (5 cases, including 1 case only with positive IgM anti-HEV antibodies). Four of 5 viremic donations were from donors aged between 18 to 29 years.
In conclusion, the HEV seroprevalence in Irish donors was low compared to other European countries. The detection of positive samples for HEV RNA has led the Department of Health to implement the screening for HEV RNA.
Trasfusion 2016
Hepatitis E virus infection in the Irish blood donor population
Joan O’Riordan, Fiona Boland, Padraig Williams, Joe Donnellan, Boris M. Hogema,
Samreen Ijaz, and William G. Murphy