Short report: hepatitis E infection in the Brazilian Amazon.

This is the first report of serologic evidence of hepatitis E infection in Brazil. During a community-based survey of healthy individuals, six of 97 gold miners in the Amazon region of Mato Grosso had antibody to the virus. The mining camps have poor sanitation with a great potential for fecal-oral transmission of disease. Since levels of hepatitis E antibodies may quickly wane, studies to directly measure the incidence of seroconversion are planned to determine the intensity of transmission in this area.