Rat hepatitis E virus and genotype 4 hepatitis E
virus infections among immunocompromised persons and patients with hepatitis in Hong Kong: abridged secondary publication
S Sridhar, CCY Yip, PCY Woo, KY Yuen
Department of Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Rat hepatitis E virus is a major cause of hepatitis E among transplant recipients and immunocompromised patients in Hong Kong.
- Most of these infections belong to a single strain group: LCK-3110.
- Street rats in Hong Kong commonly harbour rat hepatitis E virus, although few carry LCK-3110-like strains associated with most human disease.
- Both rat and genotype 4 hepatitis E virus variants frequently progress to chronicity in immunocompromised persons with poor response to immunosuppression reduction alone.
- Chronic rat hepatitis E is curable with ribavirin; the genetic basis for non-susceptibility to ribavirin in genotype 4 hepatitis E virus is substantially different from genotype 3 hepatitis E virus.