Long-term Antibody Persistence After Hepatitis E Virus Infection and Vaccination in Dongtai, China.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is of global significance. HEV is a common cause of acute hepatitis in China. One of the major unanswered questions about HEV is the persistence of antibodies after infection and vaccination.

Methods

We examined antibody persistence 6.5 years after HEV exposures through natural infection and vaccination. Ninety-seven vaccine recipients and 70 individuals asymptomatically infected with HEV enrolled in the phase III HEV239 vaccine trial in Dongtai, China, were revisited.

Results

Antibody loss was 23.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17.1%-30.5%), with a nonsignificantly higher percentage of loss among those naturally infected (30.0%; 95% CI, 19.6%-42.1%) than those vaccinated (18.6%; 95% CI, 11.4%-27.7%; P = .085). Age and gende

SUBMITTER: Kmush BL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6475590 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature