Oliveira Ricardo, Mesquita João Rodrigo, Pereira Sara, Abreu-Silva Joana, Teixeira Joana, Nascimento Maria São José
From the *Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto (FFUP), Porto, Portugal; †Agrarian Superior School (ESAV), Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, and ‡Centre for Studies in Education, Technologies and Health (CI&DETS), Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal.
Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2017 Jul;36(7):623-626. doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000001525.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) has become a growing public health concern in industrialized countries. Most of the HEV seroprevalence studies have focused on adult populations, and reports regarding HEV seroepidemiology among children are scarce in these countries. The aims of this work were to perform a nationwide seroprevalence study on HEV infection in Portuguese children and to compare the HEV seropositivity in this 2015 children cohort with results in sera performed 20 years earlier.
Sera (N = 352) from children collected in 2015 from all regions of Portugal were screened for anti-HEV IgG and IgM using the commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay recomWell HEV IgG/IgM (2015 version; Mikrogen, Neuried, Germany), and positive samples were retested by immunodot assay recomLine HEV IgG/IgM (2015 version; Mikrogen, Neuried, Germany). For the comparative assessment of HEV seropositivity of the 2 children cohorts, children's sera (N = 71) archived since 1995 were screened for anti-HEV IgG and results were compared with that of the 2015 cohort, matched by sex, age and region.
Anti-HEV antibodies were detected in 4 children giving an overall HEV seroprevalence in the 2015 cohort of 1.1%. A healthy 10-15-year-old female was found positive for anti-HEV IgM indicating a current or recent HEV infection. No statistically significant difference was observed in HEV seroprevalence regarding gender, age group and region of residence. Comparison of the HEV seropositivity of the 2 children cohorts showed a statistical significant decrease with time (P = 0.024).
This is the first national study of HEV seroprevalence in Portuguese children and the first to demonstrate a decrease of anti-HEV antibodies in this age group over time.
戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）在工业化国家已成为日益严重的公共卫生问题。大多数戊型肝炎病毒血清流行率研究都集中在成年人群体，而在这些国家，关于儿童戊型肝炎病毒血清流行病学的报告很少。这项工作的目的是在葡萄牙儿童中开展一项全国性的戊型肝炎病毒感染血清流行率研究，并将这个2015年儿童队列中的戊型肝炎病毒血清阳性率与20年前检测的血清结果进行比较。
使用商用酶联免疫吸附测定法recomWell HEV IgG/IgM（2015版；德国诺伊基兴的米克罗根公司）对2015年从葡萄牙所有地区收集的儿童血清（N = 352）进行抗HEV IgG和IgM筛查，阳性样本通过免疫斑点测定法recomLine HEV IgG/IgM（2015版；德国诺伊基兴的米克罗根公司）重新检测。为了对这两个儿童队列的戊型肝炎病毒血清阳性率进行比较评估，对自1995年以来存档的儿童血清（N = 71）进行抗HEV IgG筛查，并将结果与2015年队列中按性别、年龄和地区匹配的结果进行比较。
在4名儿童中检测到抗HEV抗体，2015年队列中的戊型肝炎病毒总体血清流行率为1.1%。一名健康的10至15岁女性抗HEV IgM呈阳性，表明当前或近期感染了戊型肝炎病毒。在性别、年龄组和居住地区方面，未观察到戊型肝炎病毒血清流行率有统计学显著差异。两个儿童队列的戊型肝炎病毒血清阳性率比较显示，随着时间推移有统计学显著下降（P = 0.024）。
这是葡萄牙首次针对儿童戊型肝炎病毒血清流行率开展的全国性研究，也是首次证明该年龄组抗HEV抗体随时间减少。
