Seroprevalence of hepatitis E infection in pregnancy - more questions than answers.

of the Hepeviridae family is an emerging infectious disease of global importance. While HEV is the most frequent cause of acute viral hepatitis in developing countries1, HEV infection can also progress to chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis in organ transplant recipients2,3. Also, antibodies to HEV have been found to be highly prevalent in HEV non-endemic areas in Western Europe and the US despite acute clinical hepatitis seldom-reported4,5. This difference in the natural history and epidemiology of so thought benign self limited HEV has fueled recent interest in the study of HEV infection.