Chronic hepatitis E - an emerging disease in an immunocompromised host

Amitabh Singh; Rachna Seth; Anand Gupta; Shalimar; Baibaswata Nayak; Subrat Kumar Acharya; Prasenjit Das

doi:10.1093/gastro/gow024

Chronic hepatitis E - an emerging disease in an immunocompromised host

Gastroenterol Rep (Oxf). 2018 May;6(2):152-155. doi: 10.1093/gastro/gow024. Epub 2016 Aug 10.

Authors

Amitabh Singh¹, Rachna Seth¹, Anand Gupta¹, Shalimar², Baibaswata Nayak³, Subrat Kumar Acharya³, Prasenjit Das⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Paediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
² Department of Gastroenterology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India drshalimar@yahoo.com.
³ Department of Gastroenterology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
⁴ Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is increasingly being reported in immunosuppressed individuals with HIV, patients with haematological malignancy and transplant recipients. The diagnosis of cirrhosis and liver failure post chronic HEV is controversial due to lack of standard diagnostic criteria. The treatment benefits of ribavirin in chronic HEV of genotype 1 are not well reported. We report a case of chronic HEV infection of genotype 1 leading to chronic liver disease in a child cured of acute leukaemia. Our report also highlights the successful use of ribavirin for eradicating chronic HEV infection and its subsequent survival benefits. Chronic hepatitis E may be an emerging disease of immunosuppressed patients and should be suspected in the presence of cryptogenic transaminitis. Ribavirin is an effective therapy for controlling HEV.

Keywords: chronic hepatitis E; chronic liver disease; immunosuppression; ribavirin..

Publication types

Case Reports