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Hepatitis E virus is highly prevalent among pregnant women in Gabon, central Africa, with different patterns between rural and urban areas
- Source :
- Virology Journal, Vol 5, Iss 1, p 158 (2008)
- Publication Year :
- 2008
- Publisher :
- BMC, 2008.
-
Abstract
- Abstract Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is highly endemic in several African countries with high mortality rate among pregnant women. Nothing is known about the circulation of this virus in central Africa. We evaluated therefore the prevalence of anti-HEV IgG in samples collected from pregnant women living in the five main cities of Gabon, central Africa. We found that 14.1% (119/840) of pregnant women had anti-HEV IgG. The prevalence differed between regions and between age groups. In 391 newly collected samples from the region where the highest prevalence was found, a significant difference (p < 0.05) in seroprevalence was found between rural (6.4%) and urban (13.5%) areas. These data provide evidence of a high prevalence of HEV in Gabon, providing indirect evidence of past contact with this virus.
- Subjects :
- Infectious and parasitic diseases
RC109-216
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1743422X and 82430977
- Volume :
- 5
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Virology Journal
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.8385a13d5194415b85a3db1e82430977
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-422X-5-158