[HEPATITIS E IgG ANTIBODIES SEROPREVALENCE IN A PERUVIAN RISK GROUP]

We study the seroprevalence and risk factors on hepatitis E virus infection in 191 healthy subjects, which are workers of the drinking water and sewerage system of Lima city, and the main activity of them was to handle sewage at present or early past. We tested for IgG hepatitis E antibodies (anti-HEV IgG) a two recombinant antigen based enzyme immunoassay (Abbott IL USA).Anti-HEV IgG were positive in 20 subjects (10.47%) and the only one variate that we can consider related to HEV infection was rank of years worked in the company, especially when reaching 13-20 years. We conclude that hepatitis E is a endemic infection in this kind of population and the prevalence of hepatitis E infection was related to the period worked in the company.We need several prevalence studies in other kind of population in order to know the magnitude of hepatitis E infection in Peru.