Thursday, January 24, 2008

HepEmerging!

So according to our syllabus, we're not spending too much class time on HepE (just clumped with the other hepatitises/hepatiti/however you make hepatitis plural). This is probably due to HepE being very regional; for the 4 genotypes of HepE known to infect humans, Genotype 1 is geographically identified with Africa and southern Asia; genotype 2 with Mexico and West Africa; genotype 3, with industrialized countries such as North America, Europe, and Japan; and genotype 4, with eastern Asia and India. BUT according to a Jan 2008 article published in EID, HepE is showing up in England and Wales a whole lot more than in the past. A lot of the people who are being diagnosed are middle-aged, non-traveling Caucasian men, and doctors are missing the diagnosis. The article suggested that HepE should be part of the differential diagnosis of for people with hepatitis who traditionally aren't suspected of having HepE.

-jessie

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