Prevalence and determinants of SENV viremia among adolescents in an endemic area of chronic liver diseases.

Background: SENV is a potential causative agent responsible for chronic liver diseases (CLDs) that are precipitated in early life. SENV prevalence in adolescents is unknown and its transmission route is uncertain. Methods: We randomly selected 824 serum samples from a cohort of 2383 adolescents aged 15–17 years who resided in Hualien County, an endemic area of liver diseases. Serum SENV genotype-D and genotype-H DNA were assayed by seminested polymerase chain reaction. Results: The positive rates for SENV-D and SENV-H DNA were 25.1% and 30.6%, respectively. Amis adolescents had a significantly higher rate of SENV-D viremia than Han Chinese adolescents (31.0% vs 22.2%; P = 0.025). Adolescents residing in rural or mountainous areas had significantly higher rates of SENV-H viremia than those residing in urban areas. There was no difference in the positive rates of SENV-D and SENV-H DNA among adolescents with or without hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection or history of hospitalization, surgery or blood transfusion. In multivariate analyses, males and adolescents residing in rural or mountainous areas had significantly higher risks of SENV-H viremia. As compared with those residing in urban areas, the multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for rural and mountainous areas were 1.49 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08–2.07) and 2.16 (95% CI, 1.32–3.53), respectively. Conclusion: SENV-D and SENV-H infection were frequent among adolescents in eastern Taiwan. SENV was unlikely to be transmitted via the parenteral route and factors associated with level of urbanization were probably the major determinants of SENV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]