Hepatitis E virus seroprevalence in children living in rural Ghana

Large outbreaks of hepatitis E virus have been reported in warm climates with poor sanitation although it exists in endemic form in these areas too. This oro-fecally transmitted infection has been described mainly in adults with very little data from children. This study looked at seroprevalence in children resident in a rural district in Ghana with very little pipe-borne water supply. Sera from 803 randomly selected pupils aged 6-18 years were evaluated for anti-HEV. The overall seroprevalence was 4.4% with seroprevalence increasing from 1% in 6-7 year olds to 8.1% in 16-18 year olds. Females had a significantly higher seroprevalence than males. Anti-seroprevalence was also not influenced by the presence of hepatitis B and C virus markers. Anti-HEV seroprevalence was however, far lower than suspected seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus which is also transmitted oro-fecally. The short life of anti-HEV may be responsible for this low seroprevalence.