Viral Hepatitis E

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Viral hepatitis E

Every year, several tens of millions of cases of viral hepatitis E infection are registered, of which more than 50,000 are fatal. The disease is widespread throughout the world, but the greatest risk of infection is found in areas with a lack of clean drinking water. This problem is observed in African, Asian countries and Latin America.

Often, outbreaks of hepatitis E occur in areas of armed conflict and in other emergencies involving large crowds. Poor sanitary and hygienic conditions, lack of clean water, and poor medical care contribute to the spread of the virus.

Men between the ages of 20 and 40 are most susceptible to hepatitis E. Women and children are much less likely to get sick. In the course of research, the dependence of outbreaks of infection on the time of year was revealed. In southeast Asia, the disease is common during the rainy season, and in the central regions of this region, hepatitis E infection occurs more often in the fall.

Content:

• Causes of Hepatitis E
• Hepatitis E symptoms
• Diagnosis of hepatitis E
• Hepatitis E treatment

Causes of Hepatitis E

The causative agent of hepatitis E is a spherical virus, the genome of which is a single-stranded coding RNA. You can deal with it with chlorine-containing disinfectants. Indeed, in comparison with the hepatitis A virus, this pathogen is less resistant.

The main method of transmission of the hepatitis E virus is through unboiled contaminated water. This is how the infection spreads in Russia. It is also possible to transfer it by contact and everyday life, for example, through the use of the same dishes by a healthy person after a sick person. Hepatitis E is a zooanthropose infection, since it is animals that promote the circulation of the virus in the environment. It has been found in the blood of wild boars, pigs and some bird species. For this reason, hepatitis E infection is highly susceptible to livestock workers involved in the primary processing of carcasses.

Unlike some other similar infections, hepatitis E is not transmitted sexually. It is also difficult to get infected by contact. However, the virus can be passed from mother to child during late pregnancy. In some cases, infection is possible through blood transfusions. To avoid hepatitis E, it is not recommended to eat raw shellfish, low-quality meat, and raw tap water.

Hepatitis E symptoms

The symptoms of hepatitis E and the course of the disease are in many ways similar to hepatitis A. The development of infection in the body leads to damage to hepatocytes, impaired liver function and intoxication. The duration of the incubation period for hepatitis E ranges from several days to one and a half months. In the preicteric period, which takes about a week, the patient feels unwell, there is a general weakness of the body, nausea, turning into vomiting. The characteristic symptom by which hepatitis E is often determined is severe pain in the right hypochondrium. In some cases, patients have a slight fever.

During the icteric period, transaminase activity increases, urine acquires a rich dark shade. The skin, like the sclera, is covered with characteristic yellow spots. Since hepatitis E mainly affects the liver, this organ increases significantly in size during the icteric period. At the same time, all the symptoms of the preicteric period persist: weakness, nausea, general malaise.

Severe hepatitis E is accompanied by hemoglobinuria (the appearance of hemoglobin in the urine). This complication is especially dangerous for pregnant women at a later date. The development of hepatic encephalopathy can lead to the death of the patient. However, such cases are rare. Most often, the disease passes in a facilitated form and with timely medical care, a full recovery occurs fairly soon.

Diagnosis of hepatitis E

To determine the presence of hepatitis E in a patient, a special type of analysis - polymerase chain reaction - allows. During it, an antigen is detected in the biological material.

Differential diagnosis presents the greatest difficulty. Hepatitis E is similar in many ways to other types of this disease. Therefore, doctors usually take into account not only external symptoms and analysis results, but also the possibility of the virus entering the body. For example, during a patient's stay in dangerous areas such as the tropics or Asian countries. Marker diagnostics are used in case of suspected hepatitis E in pregnant women. Among this group of patients, the number of deaths is maximum, therefore it is very important to quickly and accurately determine the presence of the disease.

Hepatitis E treatment

Patients with severe hepatitis E, pregnant women are subject to immediate hospitalization. With mild to moderate severity of the disease, you can do with bed rest and diet. In most cases, this is sufficient for recovery.

Nutrition with hepatitis E implies adherence to diet number 5

Fried, smoked foods, pickles and alcohol should be excluded from the diet. The body needs to get enough protein, fat and carbohydrates. The patient should drink a sufficient amount of liquid daily: pure water, tea, natural juice, compote.

Low-fat meats, fish, carbohydrates - honey, jam, white bread, oatmeal, durum wheat pasta can act as a source of animal protein.

In moderate hepatitis E, drugs such as ursodeoxycholic acid, enterosorbents, fat-soluble vitamins E and A are used. Intravenous glucose injections help to cope with nausea and vomiting.

If there is a severe form of hepatitis E, then intensive care is required. In this case, treatment involves combating hepatic encephalopathy and thrombohemorrhagic syndrome. Detection of hepatitis E during pregnancy is not a reason for termination, however, it is necessary to minimize the time of delivery and provide sufficient pain relief.

There is no vaccine against this disease yet, so the only possible way of prevention is to comply with hygiene and sanitary standards.

Author of the article: Kletkin Maxim Evgenievich | Hepatologist

Education: Diploma in the specialty "General Medicine" received at the Military Medical Academy. S. M. Kirov (2007). At the Voronezh Medical Academy. NN Burdenko graduated from residency in the specialty "Hepatologist" (2012).