Antonopoulou Nikolina, Schinas Georgios, Kotsiri Zoi, Tsachouridou Olga, Protopapas Konstantinos, Petrakis Vasileios, Petrakis Emmanouil C, Papageorgiou Despoina, Tzimotoudis Dimosthenis, Metallidis Simeon, Papadopoulos Antonios, Marangos Markos, Barbounakis Emmanouil, Kofteridis Diamantis P, Panagopoulos Periklis, Gogos Charalambos, Vantarakis Apostolos, Akinosoglou Karolina
Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece.
School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece.
Pathogens. 2024 Jun 24;13(7):536. doi: 10.3390/pathogens13070536.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) poses significant health concerns worldwide, particularly among people living with HIV (PLWHIV), due to an increased risk of chronic infection and progression to cirrhosis in individuals with low CD4 cell counts. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, chronicity potential, and risk factors of HEV infection among PLWHIV in Greece, where data are currently absent. A synchronic multicentric study encompassing five major Greek university hospitals was executed over 24 months, recruiting 696 PLWHIV participants. The prevalence of HEV IgG antibodies was 16.5%, with 8.6% showing evidence of acute HEV infection (HEV IgM). Active viral replication (HEV RNA) was present in 2.3% of the study population. Longitudinal analysis revealed that of the 25 initially anti-HEV IgM-positive individuals, only 3 seroconverted to IgG positivity, and among those with prior HEV RNA positivity (16), none showed evidence of active replication in subsequent tests. Comparative subgroup analysis highlighted the lack of significant differences in HIV-related parameters between HEV seropositive and seronegative individuals. Laboratory evaluations generally showed no significant disparities across most parameters; however, a higher seropositivity for Hepatitis A was observed in the HEV-positive subgroup. Our findings highlight a considerable prevalence of HEV among PLWHIV in Greece, with no observed cases of chronicity.
戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）在全球范围内引发了重大的健康问题，尤其是在艾滋病毒感染者（PLWHIV）中，因为CD4细胞计数低的个体慢性感染和发展为肝硬化的风险增加。本研究旨在调查希腊PLWHIV中HEV感染的患病率、慢性化可能性及危险因素，目前该国尚无相关数据。一项为期24个月的同步多中心研究在希腊五家主要大学医院开展，招募了696名PLWHIV参与者。HEV IgG抗体的患病率为16.5%，8.6%的人有急性HEV感染（HEV IgM）的证据。2.3%的研究人群存在病毒活跃复制（HEV RNA）。纵向分析显示，在最初25名抗HEV IgM阳性个体中，只有3人血清转化为IgG阳性，在先前HEV RNA阳性的个体（16人）中，后续检测均未显示有病毒活跃复制的证据。比较亚组分析强调，HEV血清阳性和血清阴性个体在艾滋病毒相关参数方面没有显著差异。实验室评估在大多数参数上总体未显示出显著差异；然而，在HEV阳性亚组中观察到甲型肝炎的血清阳性率更高。我们的研究结果突出了希腊PLWHIV中HEV感染率相当高，但未观察到慢性感染病例。
