less known than hepatitis B and CHepatitis E is a liver disease that is usually spread by drinking contaminated water. It is a common disease in countries with poor access to essential water supply and sanitation services because without water treatment, the viruses excreted in the stools of infected people reach water intended for human consumption. .
But the virus is also rampant in Western countries due to ingestion of undercooked meat or derivative products from infected animals (most often pigs).
28 deaths recorded in 10 years
The World Health Organization (WHO) has just published a report on the incidence of hepatitis E in Europe. A report that shows that the incidence of the disease in developed countries is largely underestimated because between 2005 and 2015, the number of cases of hepatitis E increased tenfold.
From 514 in 2005, this number rose to 5,617 in 2015. Over the same period, the number of hospitalizations rose from 85 to 1,115. And 28 hepatitis E-related deaths have been recorded.
This increase in cases is linked to the spread of certain strains of the virus over the years. They potentially come from “the consumption of pork sausages and ham sold in supermarkets in England and Wales, supposed vectors of the virus”.
Two out of three times the infection goes unnoticed
Most often asymptomatic, two thirds of infections go unnoticed and the disease regresses spontaneously. However, hepatitis E can lead, after an incubation of 2 and 8 weeks (40 days on average), to symptomatic forms resembling that of hepatitis A with fever, nausea, abdominal pain or vomiting. It can even progress to a fulminant form that may require a liver transplant or lead to death.
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