Hidden danger: the raw facts about hepatitis E virus.

In 1980, hepatitis E was the last of the 5 recognized types of human hepatitis to be discovered; in 1990, the genome of the etiologic agent of hepatitis E, hepatitis E virus (HEV), was cloned and serological tests were developed [1]. It proved to be the most or second-most important cause of acute clinical hepatitis among adults throughout much of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa [2]. In contrast, HEV was rarely identified in industrialized countries, and the few reported cases of infection were usually in someone who had recently traveled to an endemic region. In the past few years this pattern has changed, as cases of endemic or autochthonous hepatitis E have been diagnosed with increasing frequency in individuals who have not traveled abroad.