P79 Hepatitis E virus is highly endemic in South West France

Introduction Locally acquired hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is an emerging infection in developed countries. South West France has a high incidence of HEV and has reported a large number of chronic cases of HEV infection. We previously estimated the HEV seroprevalence in blood donors in Midi-Pyrenees to be 16.6%, very much higher than the rate seen in Northern France (3.2%). However, comparison between seroprevalence studies is difficult. There is no gold-standard for measuring HEV antibodies and commercial assays vary in performance. A recent study has suggested poor sensitivity in a commonly used HEV IgG assay, which underestimates seroprevalence by a factor of 4.51. Since this assay was used in our previous study of HEV seroprevalence in Midi-Pyrenees, we repeated the study using a more sensitive assay previously validated against sera from cases of HEV genotype 3 infection. Aim To re-examine the seroprevalence of anti-HEV IgG using a sensitive, validated assay. Method Sera from 512 blood donors (aged 18–65 yrs) and 50 children (aged 2–4 yrs) were tested for anti-HEV IgG (Wantai, Beijing, China). Demographic data and putative risk factors for HEV acquisition were collected using a structured questionnaire. Results The HEV seroprevalence in blood donors was 52.5%. 63.1% of donors from rural areas and 42.9% of donors from urban ones were positive for anti-HEV IgG (p Conclusion HEV is highly endemic in South West France, and the seroprevalence approaches that found in many developing countries where HEV is endemic. Seroepidemiological studies of hepatitis E which use less sensitive assays may not produce a valid assessment of the relevant risk factors.