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Article: Hepatitis E in the United States: A case of "hog Fever"?
- Article from:
- Mayo Clinic Proceedings
- Article date:
- December 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research Dec 1997. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The hepatitis E virus, responsible for major epidemics of viral hepatitis in subtropical and tropical countries, was cloned only 7 years ago.1 Hepatitis E was found to belong to the family of Caliciviridae, which includes the Norwalk virus-a common cause of gastroenteritis in humans-and consists of a single, plus-strand RNA genome of approximately 7.2 kb without an envelope (Fig. 1). The virus contains at least three open reading frames encoding viral proteins against which antibodies are made on exposure. These antibodies, especially those against the capsid protein derived from the second open reading frame2 and a protein of unknown function derived from the third open reading frame, are ...