Hepatitis E Virus Infection in HIV-infected Persons

Nancy F. Crum-Cianflone

, Jennifer Curry, Jan Drobeniuc, Amy Weintrob, Michael Landrum, Anuradha Ganesan, William Bradley, Brian K. Agan, Saleem Kamili, and The Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program HIV Working Group

Author affiliations: Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA (N.F. Crum-Cianflone, J. Curry, A. Weintrob, M. Landrum, A. Ganesan, W. Bradley, B.K. Agan); Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego, California, USA (N.F. Crum-Cianflone); Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA (J. Curry); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (J. Drobeniuc S. Kamili); Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington DC, USA (A. Weintrob); San Antonio Military Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, USA (M. Landrum); National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda (A. Ganesan)

Abstract

To determine whether hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a cause of hepatitis among HIV-infected persons, we evaluated 1985–2009 data for US military beneficiaries. Evidence of acute or prior HEV infection was detected for 7 (4%) and 5 (3%) of 194 HIV-infected persons, respectively. HEV might be a cause of acute hepatitis among HIV-infected persons.

Among immunosuppressed persons in industrialized countries, hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a cause of sporadic acute viral hepatitis and chronic hepatitis (1,2). In the United States, liver test results are often abnormal for HIV-infected persons; however, few studies have evaluated whether HEV is a cause of hepatitis in this population (3).