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Hepatitis E virus seroprevalence before hematopoietic SCT: a pediatric experience

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 49, pages 857–858 (2014)Cite this article

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In a recent paper, Versluis et al.1 reported on hepatitis E virus (HEV) hepatitis as an emerging infectious diseases in adult recipients of hematopoietic SCT (HSCT). Recently, we reported on chronic HEV hepatitis in children, both in liver transplantation and in a HSCT recipient.2,3 The HSCT child ultimately died from hepatic complications.2 We concur with Versluis et al. that HEV is an underestimated and under recognized etiology for chronic hepatitis in the immunocompromised patient. The lack of data on HEV seroprevalence, especially in children, and our recent cases of HEV infection prompted us to estimate the seroprevalence of this virus in a pediatric population awaiting HSCT.

We recruited children who had undergone HSCT for underlying hematological malignancies or primary immunodeficiency. Inclusion criteria were: age between 1 month and 19 years, and presenting with elevated serum aminotransferase values after HSCT (ALT ⩾60 IU/L; AST ⩾100 IU/L). As a control group, children without liver or chronic diseases were recruited from the Infectious Disease outpatient clinic and the home intravenous antibiotic program. Samples were tested for anti-HEV IgG and anti-HEV IgM reactivity as previously described.3

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References

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Author notes

  1. M Jaber and K Béland: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Pediatrics, CHU Sainte-Justine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    M Jaber & C Buteau

  2. Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, Hepatology and Nutrition, CHU Sainte-Justine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    K Béland, U Halac & F Alvarez

  3. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    C Rousseau

  4. Division of Hemato-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    S Cellot

Authors
  1. M Jaber
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  2. K Béland
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  3. C Rousseau
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  4. S Cellot
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  5. U Halac
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  6. F Alvarez
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  7. C Buteau
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C Buteau.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Jaber, M., Béland, K., Rousseau, C. et al. Hepatitis E virus seroprevalence before hematopoietic SCT: a pediatric experience. Bone Marrow Transplant 49, 857–858 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2014.27

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