A case of domestic hepatitis E living in Ibaraki Prefecture who was suspected to contract infection of a new Sapporo HEV strain while traveling in Hokkaido

Abstract

We encountered a 34-year-old man who developed domestic infection of genotype 4 hepatitis E virus (HEV) in January 2010 two weeks after traveling to Hokkaido, where a series of sporadic cases of hepatitis E (n=8) had been noted between September and October in 2009 (Kanzo 51: 51-53, 2010). The HEV isolate recovered from our patient segregated into a cluster of new Sapporo strains consisting of those recovered from the 8 reported patients, with up to 100% identity, suggesting the wider and continuing spread of the particular strain in Hokkaido. In addition to routine test for hepatitis E, detailed interview and phylogentic analysis of HEV strains should be considered for identifying sources of infection and modes of infection transmission.