History of viral hepatitis: A tale of dogmas and misinterpretations¹

Prevalence of Antibodies to Hepatitis E Virus in Immigrants: A Seroepidemiological Survey in the District of Foggia (Apulia‐Southern Italy)

“…Hepatitis E was believed to countries, primarily in Asia (range: min 8.1% China [Shenyang et al, 2011] and max 22.5% Bangladesh [Labrique et al, 2010]) and Africa (range: min 4.3% Tunisia [Rezig et al, 2008] and max 79.5% Bangui [Goumba et al, 2011]); but also in some regions of Eastern Europe there is a high rate of HEV infection (Hungary 9.6% [Reuter et al, 2009] and Romania 12.5% [Voiculescu et al, 2010]). HEV appears to be the second most frequent cause of enterically transmitted disease after hepatitis A virus (HAV) [Schmid, 2001]; in high‐endemic areas, HEV infection accounts for a large proportion of acute sporadic hepatitis in all age groups [Vishwanathan, 1957]. In our study, it was observed a high‐rate of HEV infection in a cohort of immigrants who had just arrived (<2 months) in Italy, as already showed by previous studies on immigrants arriving from developing countries to our land [De Donno et al, 2003].…”

Hepatitis E: Historical, contemporary and future perspectives

“…Viral hepatitis was recognized as an infectious disease as early as the 8th century AD. During the middle ages, outbreaks of viral hepatitis were a frequent occurrence during wars, famines and earthquakes 1 . Outbreaks of acute hepatitis were reported from several parts of the world during the 18th and 19th centuries 2 .…”

Prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection among persons with diagnosed diabetes mellitus in the United States, 1999–2010*

“…Among the earliest descriptions from Sweden (in 1926) and England (1943–45) were reports of jaundice outbreaks (and later serum hepatitis and finally HBV infection) among patients attending diabetes clinics for blood glucose monitoring. The mode of transmission was identified as blood‐contaminated equipment (a spring‐loaded device to sample blood from the ear lobe and reused unsterilized syringes for obtaining blood) that was used upon multiple patients [1,2].…”