Hong Kong finds human hepatitis contracted in rats

Researchers said Wednesday they found a second patient in Hong Kong who contracted a strain of hepatitis transmitted by rats, which seems to be the world's first known human case.

The discovery surprised the researchers, although it was not easy to determine if there were significant consequences for human health.

"Because the strain … of the rat is very different from the human strain, people think that it could not pass to humans," said Siddharth Sridhar, one of the leading researchers of the 39, University of Hong Kong. "It was a clinical discovery."

The first case came out in September. The researchers confirmed that a 56-year-old man had a strain of hepatitis E previously known only in rats in Vietnam.

The second case was discovered after blood samples from more than 70 patients with hepatitis E were tested.

A 70-year-old woman whose immune system is compromised was found infected with the hepatitis virus, the Hong Kong Health Department said Wednesday in an e-mail response to questions.

She had been admitted to the hospital in May 2017 with abdominal pain, headache, anorexia and other symptoms. The blood samples collected from her at the time were recently tested positive.

Both patients were hospitalized a few weeks apart and live less than three kilometers from each other.

"They form a cluster – they are linked in time and in space," Sridhar said. Strains found in patients "are strangely similar."

However, the Ministry of Health said "that the sources and routes of infection of these two cases could not be determined."

Other strains of hepatitis E are often transmitted by humans via contaminated water, especially in South and East Asia. In China, many are hit after eating pork and undercooked viscera. China has developed and licensed a vaccine against hepatitis E, but it is not yet available outside the country.

Explore further:
First human case of rat disease in the world discovered in Hong Kong