Post-Earth Quake assessment of HEV prevalence among general population

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is a global disease causing acute hepatitis, transmitted by fecal contaminated water. In South East Asian countries like, Nepal Hepatitis E virus is a most common causative agent of sporadic viral hepatitis and outbreaks. The risk of viral hepatitis has escalated after April earth quake in Nepal. The study was done with the objective to find the prevalence of HEV specific IgM among the general population. Blood samples from 570 healthy populations were tested for HEV IgM by using the Wantai HEV-IgM ELISA, and 1.40% of the study population is found to be harboring the HEV IgM. The study fostered the low level exposure to virus with human reservoirs.