Prevalence of Hepatitis E Antibodies in Patients Infected with HIV
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Prevalence of Hepatitis E Antibodies in Patients Infected with HIV
IRAS ID
204042
Contact name
Jeremy Mouer
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Medway Maritime Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 29 days
Research summary
This research study is designed to assess the prevalence of the disease caused by hepatits E virus (HEV).
Hepatitis E is a major cause of enterically-transmitted acute hepatitis worldwide. HEV is transmitted by the faecal-oral route via contaminated water in highly endemic developing countries. However, HEV is an emerging infection in developed countries and is a form of porcine zoonosis (contracted due to the consumption of undercooked pork meat). HEV infection can be particularly problematic for the immunosuppressed host often leading to chronic infection and liver cirrhosis. The seroprevalence of this emerging disease amongst human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfected patients is not very well documented.
The overall aim of this research is to investigate the extent of HEV infection in the local population and to compare it to that of a cohort of HIV-positive patients. Central to this research is the need to answer the questions: how prevalent is HEV infection in the local population; and , what is the magnitude of the infection in the local HIV-positive populace? There is a specific need to answer these questions because HEV infection is thought to be an underdiagnosed disease, that has a diverse range of clinical features, that can be particularly problematic for the immunocompromised host.
This study is designed to retrospectively investigate the prevalence of HEV antibodies, both IgG and IgM, in confirmed HIV-positive genito-urinary medicine (GUM) attendees, and compare this to a control cohort of confirmed HIV-negative patients. The research project will then critically evaluate this data to assess the extent of this disease in the local area, and also give an indication of the magnitude of the disease in the local HIV-positive population.
The study will be conducted in the microbiology department of Medway Maritime Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and will be completed within 6 months.REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/WM/0228
Date of REC Opinion
12 May 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion