First report of acute autochthonous hepatitis E in Portugal

• Author(s): Duque, V ; Ventura, C ; Seixas, D ; Saraiva da Cunha, JG ; Meliço-Silvestre, A
• Date: 2012
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.4/1316
• Origin: Repositório do Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra
• Subject(s): Hepatite E; Vírus da Hepatite E
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

Hepatitis E infection is usually a self-limiting disease. In industrialized countries, sporadic cases of acute hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections have been described; their number seems to be increasing in European countries. We report the first human case of autochthonous acute hepatitis E confirmed in Portugal. Patients with acute non-A-C hepatitis should be tested for HEV in Portugal and hepatitis E infection should be considered in the differential diagnosis of unexplained hepatitis cases.