Hepatitis E: The ‘New Kid on the Block' or an Old Friend?

HEV was discovered 30 years ago. 'Look-back' studies showed that HEV was responsible for large outbreaks of hepatitis in developing nations, such as the one in Delhi, India, in 1952/1953 involving over 29,000 cases with 100 deaths in pregnant women Deaths in pregnant females appears to be a unique 'signature' of waterborne HEV genotypes 1 and 2. Earlier historical descriptions of outbreaks of jaundice and deaths in pregnant women suggest that in the 19th and early 20th centuries hepatitis E was present in Germany, France, Italy and the Balkans The first such description of outbreaks of jaundice with associated deaths in pregnant females was in Ldenscheid, Germany, in 1794 It is thus probable that HEV has been causing human disease in Germany for over 200 years.