Hepatitis E virus seroprevalence in HIV positive individuals in Shiraz, Southern Iran

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the most common cause of acute viral hepatitis in the world. It is usually a self-limited disease but may leads to the deaths of about 20% of pregnant women in developing countries. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of HEV infection among HIV individuals. This is a cross-sectional survey of HIV positive individuals in voluntary counselling and testing center of Shiraz in 2013. Using the systematic random sampling method, 158 patients enrolled for the research. They were asked about their age, gender, area of residence, marital status, number of children, education level, occupation, history of imprisonment, mode of HIV transmission, and viral hepatitis co-infection. Three ml venous blood sample was drawn from each subject and transferred to the laboratory of voluntary counselling and testing center. The overall seroprevalence of hepatitis E was 26 (16.4%), where it increased significantly with age ranging from zero in subjects less than 30 years of age to 47.4% in those aged 50 years or older. Co-infection of HIV positive individuals with HEV is an issue that should be of concern to health care pro- viders.