Seroprevalence And Risk Factors Of Hepatitis E Virus Infection Among HIV-infected Patients In Zhaotong City,yunnan Province

Objectives:Hepatitis E virus(HEV)infection in immunocompromised patients often results in distinct outcome,compared to the infection in general population.This study aimed to investigate the prevalence,potential risk factors and clinical features of HEV infection among HIV-1 patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy(HAART)in Zhaotong city,China.Methods:A total 770 HIV-infected patients between May 2015 and February 2016 were enrolled in Zhaotong,Yunnan province,China.All patients received HAART.All plasma samples were tested for anti-HEV IgG,anti-HEV IgM antibodies by using ELISA kits and HEV RNA by real-time qRT-PCR.Association between anti-HEV antibody positivity and demographic,clinical and laboratory measures was assessed in univariate and multivariate logistic regression models.Results:Of the 770 HIV-infected patients,342 patients(44.42%)were anti-HEV IgG antibody positive and 6 patients(0.78%)were anti-HEV IgM antibody positive.None of the patients was HEV RNA positive,as tested in our assays.We found that age,gender,CD4 cell count,WHO stage,marital status and total cholesterol levels were associated with HEV infection.Conclusions:We report a high seroprevalence rate and several potential risk factors of HEV infection in a large HIV-1 cohort from Zhaotong city in China.Further research on identification of the circulating HEV strains and the clinical outcome of this patient population is required.