1. Hepatitis E virus in the Kathmandu Valley: Insights from a representative longitudinal serosurvey.
- Author
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Katuwal N, Thapa M, Shrestha S, Vaidya K, Bogoch II, Shrestha R, Andrews JR, Tamrakar D, and Aiemjoy K
- Subjects
- Humans, Nepal epidemiology, Seroepidemiologic Studies, Adolescent, Adult, Young Adult, Child, Male, Female, Child, Preschool, Longitudinal Studies, Infant, Immunoglobulin G blood, Hepatitis Antibodies blood, Infant, Newborn, Incidence, Hepatitis E epidemiology, Hepatitis E blood, Hepatitis E virus immunology
- Abstract
Background: Hepatitis-E virus (HEV), an etiologic agent of acute inflammatory liver disease, is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in South Asia. HEV is considered endemic in Nepal; but data on population-level infection transmission is sparse., Methods: We conducted a longitudinal serosurvey in central Nepal to assess HEV exposure. At each visit, capillary blood samples were collected and analyzed for the presence of anti-HEV IgG antibodies. The study took place between February 2019 and April 2021, with up to 4 visits per participant approximately 6 months apart., Results: We collected 2513 samples from 923 participants aged 0-25 years, finding a seroprevalence of 4.8% and a seroincidence rate of 10.9 per 1000 person-years. Young adults and individuals consuming surface water faced the highest incidence of infection. Geospatial analysis identified potential HEV clusters, suggesting a need for targeted interventions., Significance: Our findings demonstrate that HEV is endemic in Nepal and that the risk of infection increases with age., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Katuwal et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
- Published
- 2024
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