Hepatitis E in liver transplant recipients in the Rhône-Alpes region in France

In developed countries, hepatitis E virus (HEV) is considered an emerging pathogen, but prevalence seems highly variable according to previous European studies. As HEV can lead to chronic infections in immunosuppressed patients, it is thus essential to evaluate the prevalence and incidence of this infection.

We determined retrospectively, in a cohort of 206 pediatric and adult liver transplant recipients from the Rhône-Alpes region in France, pre-transplant anti-HEV-IgG prevalence and incidence of HEV infections during post-transplant follow-up (HEV IgG and IgM ± HEV-RNA).

Transplantations were carried out between 2005 and 2012 and mean post-transplant follow-up was 32.8 months. Global pre-transplant prevalence of anti-HEV IgG was 29%, increasing regularly with age from 7% for children under 15 to 49% for patients older than 60. From the 142 seronegative patients before transplant, 11 seroconversions (7.7%) were observed during follow-up (incidence of 2.83 cases per 100 person-years). HEV RNA-tested at transaminases peak or randomly-was detected in only one case of seroconversion. For at least 2 HEV-seropositive patients, who had negative RNAemia before transplantation, viral RNA was detected chronically during follow-up, suggesting reinfection with HEV.

Acute infections were largely more frequent than chronic infections and were asymptomatic or misdiagnosed, suggesting that liver transplant patients may not be particularly prone to developing severe HEV hepatitis. In addition, the presence of IgG anti-HEV may not protect against re-infection. Serological testing, therefore, appears to be of limited interest for the diagnosis of HEV infections in liver transplant recipients.