Prevalence and Diversity of Hepatitis Virus Markers among Patients with Acute Febrile Jaundice in Chad

Abstract

Only a minority of the patients with acute febrile jaundice evaluated through the Yellow Fever surveillance program were found positive for antibodies against Yellow Fever Virus (YFV). In order to characterize patients with acute febrile jaundice negative for YFV, we collected 255 sera between January to December 2019. We screened for HBV antigens, and antibodies against HCV and HEV. The seroprevalences observed were 10.6% (27/255) for HBV, 2% (5/255) for HCV, 17.3% (44/255) for HEV IgG, 4.3% (11/255) for HEV IgM, and 12.5% (32/255) for both IgG and IgM HEV. Prevalence of HEV was significantly higher in females than males (p < 0.01). HEV IgG prevalence was highest in those 20–29 years old, but the highest incidence rate (IgM positive) was in children 0–9 years old. Exposure to HEV was higher in the Sahelian zone (55.8%, 95% CI: 40.97–70.66) than in the Sudanese zone (30.2%, 95% CI: 24.01–36.37, p = 0.003). The high prevalence rates and hepatitis virus diversity underline the challenge of routine clinical diagnosis in Chad’s Yellow Fever surveillance program.

Hepatitis E virus infections among patients with acute febrile jaundice in two regions of Cameroon: First molecular characterization of hepatitis E virus genotype 4

“…Indeed, it will be important to elucidate the routes used to transmit zoonotic HEV genotypes to humans in Cameroon and the extent of HEV genotype 4 coverage. It should be noted that similar studies carried out in a number of sub-Saharan African countries have reported, in addition to HEV, significant proportions of other hepatitic viruses including HAV, HBV and HCV [ 22 , 33 ]. Our study was limited to HEV, but future studies will enable us to assess the proportion of other hepatitic viruses in patients with acute febrile jaundice included in the yellow fever surveillance program in Cameroon.…”

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) Antibodies in Human Populations of Sokodé, Togo

“…In Africa, total antibody seroprevalence was 43.4% in Ethiopia [21], 17.6% in Benin [22] and 78.4% in Cameroon [23]. Speci c anti-HEV IgM was 3.19% in Burkina Faso [24], 4.3% in Chad [25] and 1.44% in Benin [22].…”

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“…The resource-limited countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa remain a beehive of febrile illnesses with multiple etiological agents which are difficult to distinguish based on the similarities of their signs and symptoms. The manifestation of febrile illnesses could be because of parasitic diseases such as Malaria, Toxoplasmosis, Schistosomiasis; bacteria diseases such as [3,5,8,9,28,[47][48][49]. Over the decades, these diseases have been major public health problems in the sub-Saharan African region with limited or no information on the actual burdens of these agents and their interactions as co-morbidities and mortalities in febrile illnesses.…”