ABSTRACT
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a major causative agent of acute viral hepatitis in developing countries. Although, previously, sporadic cases of hepatitis E in developed countries were attributed to travel to hyperendemic areas, in recent years, a surprisingly higher number of cases of autochthonous transmission of hepatitis E with high seroprevalence have been documented from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia–Pacific countries. Consumption of undercooked or raw pig liver, pork, and game meat plays a significant role in HEV transmission in industrialized countries. Hepatitis E is generally a self-limiting disease which lasts for 4–6 weeks. The proper and timely diagnosis of human HEV infections in nonendemic regions is technically challenging. Future research should focus on developing broadly applicable serological and molecular assays for hepatitis E diagnosis. The unsolved issues such as the relative importance of HEV transmission pathways, inactivation properties of the virus, and dose–response relationship of HEV infection need to be addressed.
