Prevalence of hepatitis E virus in thalassemia patients with hepatitis C in Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objectives: HEV infection is predominantly spread via the fecal-oral route; however, due to the presence

of HEV RNA in the serum of healthy blood donors, there is a possibility of the transmissibility of HEV infection through

blood. Multi-transfused thalassemia patients are one of the high risk groups for blood borne viruses. In this study, we evaluated

the prevalence of HEV antibodies and HEV-RNA in thalassemia patients with HCV infection.

Materials and Methods: 120 anti-HCV positive thalassemia patient serum samples from Tehran province during April-June

2019 were assessed for the presence of total anti-HEV antibodies using of HEV Ab ELISA kit. All serum samples were assayed

by Nested RT-PCR to detect HEV-RNA.

Results: The results of ELISA test showed that 2 out of 120 (1.67%) samples were positive for anti-HEV Ab. There was no

statistically significant difference between anti-HEV antibody prevalence rate and sex, age and other risk factors. None of

120 (0.00%) samples were positive for HEV-RNA by Nested RT-PCR.

Conclusion: Seroprevalence of HEV in our study group was 1.67% which is less than HEV seroprevalence rate in Iranian

general population. Therefore, it can be conclude that transmission of HEV infection via blood transfusion seems to be

uncommon in Iran and the fecal-oral route can be the predominant mode of transmission in Iran; however, more studies are

required to confirm this issue.