| [ Summary ] |
The etiologies of fulminant hepatitis and LOHF are uncertain in about 30 % of Japanese patients. It seems that a type of HEV, indigenous to Japan, might be involved in the development of these diseases. Surveillance by the Intractable Liver Diseases Study Group of Japan, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor revealed that serum HEV-RNA was positive in only 4 patients out of 450, with fulminant hepatitis and LOHF during 2000 and 2003. All the patients who tested positive for serum HEV-RNA were in Hokkaido prefecture. Thus, it is concluded that HEV infection is not common in patients with fulminant hepatitis and LOHF in Japan, except for those in Hokkaido prefecture. |