Hepatitis E virus: the cause of a waterbourne hepatitis outbreak

Newly developed assays for antibody to hepatitis E virus (HEV) were used to study 114 serum samples collected during an outbreak of enterically transmitted hepatitis that occurred in Kashmir in 1978/9. The sera included samples from patients with viral hepatitis, anicteric hepatitis, contacts of cases, and unaffected persons. A total of 71% of patients with viral hepatitis were found positive for anti-HEV specific IgG, and 75% of these were also positive for IgM. These data confirm the hepatitis E virus as the causative agent in this outbreak.