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Letters to the editor
Sporadic HEV hepatitis in Italy
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Editor,—We read with great interest the paper of McCrudden et al concerning acute hepatitis E (HEV) in the UK (OpenUrlPubMedWeb of Science). We agree wholeheartedly with the authors that this form of hepatitis is on the increase in industrialised countries. In Italy, the reported prevalence of anti-HEV IgG positivity ranges from 0.74% to 1.94%,1 although a recent study found a prevalence of 2.6% in one small town in central Italy.2 A value of 1.5% has been reported for the general adult population of the Republic of San Marino.3
We have recently observed two cases of acute hepatitis E with no evidence of any known risk factors.
Case 1. In September 1997, a 45 …