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Prevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection has been increasing in the U.K. since 2010. Now, investigators have assessed HEV RNA prevalence in blood donations, as well as transmission of the virus in various blood components and morbidity in recipients.
Plasma samples from 225,000 blood donations collected in southeastern England in 2012 and 2013 were retrospectively screened. Donations positive for HEV RNA by real-time polymerase reaction were subjected to phylogenetic and serologic analysis. Recipients of components from any of the HEV-positive donations were located and — when possible — tested.
Overall, 79 donations (0.04%) tested HEV-RNA positive; 56 (71%) of these donations had no detectable HEV IgM or IgG antibodies. The median vir…