One in 3,000 blood donors in England carry the hepatitis E virus

A study found that 79 out of 225,000 blood donations in England carry the hepatitis E virus, which can cause liver disease.

17:13 29 July 2014

A study in The Lancet medical journal confirmed that one in 3,000 blood donors in England carry a virus that causes liver disease – the hepatitis E virus, which is most prevalent in developed country.  The virus is typically contracted from infected pigs and contaminated blood or drinking water.

Principal investigator Richard Tedder from the Blood Borne Virus Unit at Public Health England said: “HEV genotype 3 infections are widespread in the English population, including blood donors.”

“We estimate that between 80 000 and 100 000 human HEV infections are likely to have occurred in England during the year of our study.”
Hepatitis E, which cannot be cured, can be especially dangerous for people with suppressed immune systems as well as pregnant women.

Although the result of the study sparked a call for screening in Europe, the study authors said that the overall risk was slight and “there appears to be no pressing need at this time for blood donations to be screened.”

Jean-Michel Pawlotsky from the Henri Mondor hospital reacted to the comment saying “Systematic screening of blood components for markers of hepatitis E infection should be implemented in areas where HEV is endemic [which includes the European Union].”