AJTMH Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 54(6), 1996, pp. 559-562
Copyright © 1996 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Corwin, A. L.
Right arrow Articles by Hyams, K. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Corwin, A. L.
Right arrow Articles by Hyams, K. C.

A Waterborne Outbreak of Hepatitis E Virus Transmission in Southwestern Vietnam

Andrew Lee Corwin, Ha Ba Khiem, Edward T. Clayson, Pham Kim Sac, Vo Thi Tuyet Nhung, Vu Thuy Yen, Cao Thi Thu Cuc, David Vaughn, Janick Merven, Thomas L. Richie, Maidy Pranata Putri, Junkun He, Robert Graham, F. Stephen Wignall AND Kenneth C. Hyams
U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2, Jakarta, Indonesia; Pasteur Institute, Ho Chi Minh City, Republic of Vietnam; Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand; Abbott Laboratories, Singapore; U.S. Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, Maryland

A hepatitis outbreak affecting primarily adults occurred in southwestern Vietnam, along the Hau river bordering Cambodia, in June and July 1994. One month after the outbreak, sera and epidemiologic information were collected from 150 subjects: 50 patient cases, 50 matched, healthy community controls, and 50 geographic controls living 50 km upriver. The prevalence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) to hepatitis E virus (HEV) was significantly (P < 0.001) higher (76%) among cases than among the matched (38%) and geographic (38%) control populations. Immunoglobulin M to HEV was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot in 16% of sera collected from patients one month after the outbreak. Hepatitis E virus RNA was detected with the polymerase chain reaction in 6% of sera from patients; RNA was not detected in either control group. These results indicate that HEV was the etiologic agent responsible for the outbreak. Children were under-represented among clinical cases. River water served as the principal source for drinking and bathing among most (96%) of the case and control study populations. Boiling of drinking water was negatively associated (P < 0.05) with IgG anti-HEV seropositivity. Unusually heavy rainfall likely contributed to conditions that favored the outbreak. This is the first recognized outbreak of epidemic HEV transmission in Indo-China.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 CVIHome page
M. Herremans, J. Bakker, E. Duizer, H. Vennema, and M. P. G. Koopmans
Use of Serological Assays for Diagnosis of Hepatitis E Virus Genotype 1 and 3 Infections in a Setting of Low Endemicity
Clin. Vaccine Immunol., May 1, 2007; 14(5): 562 - 568.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 CVIHome page
M. Buti, A. Dominguez, P. Plans, R. Jardi, M. Schaper, J. Espunes, N. Cardenosa, F. Rodriguez-Frias, R. Esteban, A. Plasencia, et al.
Community-Based Seroepidemiological Survey of Hepatitis E Virus Infection in Catalonia, Spain
Clin. Vaccine Immunol., December 1, 2006; 13(12): 1328 - 1332.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1996 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.