Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, Edinburgh, UK.
Vox Sang. 2013 Nov;105(4):283-9. doi: 10.1111/vox.12056. Epub 2013 Jun 13.
Published prevalence figures for hepatitis E virus (HEV) reveal significant regional differences. Several studies have reported virus transmission via blood transfusion. The aim of this study was to establish HEV seroprevalence and investigate a potential HEV RNA presence in Scottish blood donors.
IgG and IgM were determined in individual serum samples. HEV RNA was investigated in plasma mini-pools corresponding to 43 560 individual donations using nested PCR. Samples amenable to reamplification with primers from a different region were considered confirmed positives, sequenced and analysed.
A total of 73 of 1559 tested individual sera (4·7%) were IgG positive, none tested positive for IgM. Plasma mini-pool testing revealed an HEV RNA frequency of 1 in 14 520 donations. Three confirmed positives belonged, as expected to genotype 3.
HEV IgG and RNA figures in Scottish blood donors are lower than those published for the rest of the UK, but sufficiently high to prompt further studies on potential transmission rates and effects of HEV infection, especially for immunosuppressed individuals.
已发表的戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）流行率数据显示出显著的地区差异。有几项研究报告称病毒通过输血传播。本研究旨在确定苏格兰献血者中的 HEV 血清流行率，并调查潜在的 HEV RNA 存在情况。
在单个血清样本中测定 IgG 和 IgM。使用巢式 PCR 对对应于 43560 个个体供体的血浆小池进行 HEV RNA 检测。可与来自不同区域的引物重新扩增的样本被认为是确认阳性，进行测序和分析。
在 1559 个测试的个体血清中，共有 73 个（4.7%）为 IgG 阳性，无一例 IgM 阳性。血浆小池检测显示 HEV RNA 频率为每 14520 个供体中有 1 个阳性。3 个确认阳性样本属于预期的 3 型。
苏格兰献血者的 HEV IgG 和 RNA 数据低于英国其他地区公布的数据，但足以促使进一步研究潜在的传播率和 HEV 感染的影响，特别是对免疫抑制个体。
