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Rats are potential sources of hepatitis E (HEV) even though they are not considered food sources because of their close contact with humans. In addition to rodents, rabbits, cattle and sheep were also found to have antibodies against HEV. ( Gerhard Gellinger | pixabay )
A Hong Kong man has been diagnosed with the hepatitis E version of the rat, making it the first case in the world of the rat version in humans. Does this have anything to do with his liver transplant or is it the result of life in unhygienic conditions?
The first human case of hepatitis E in the world
In May 2017, a 56-year-old man from Hong Kong received a liver transplant at the Queen Mary Hospital of the University of Hong Kong. However, he developed liver problems just months after the organ transplant and, in September 2017, tests revealed that he had the hepatitis E virus (HEV) version at the rat, the first recorded case in the world.
Although he had a liver transplant a few months before the onset of his illness, his doctors did not think it was the cause of the disease nor that he contracted it in another human. . In fact, the tests on the liver donor as well as all the people who donated their blood were negative for the HEV of the rat. So, how did he get it?
Rat disease that jumps to humans
Doctors still do not know how the rat disease has jumped on the man, but it is possible that he was able to take it by consuming food contaminated with rat excrement. In this case, the man apparently lives in unhygienic conditions because he lives rather near a garbage chute where the investigators found rat droppings and described the location as a favorable condition for breeding rats.
However, tests performed on rats and surrounding waters were negative for the disease and only tested positive for frozen samples from a rat that roamed the region in 2012. The exact source of his illness is currently unknown. .
It is possible that it was because of the liver transplant of the man that he was more likely to contract the disease because he had to take medication to suppress his immune system, so that his body would not reject the transplanted organ. This and her combined living conditions have made her body more readily available for the rat disease to be obvious to her.
He is now considered "completely normal" after receiving antiviral medications for chronic HEV.
& # 39; Wake up call & # 39; for hygiene
Professor Yuen Kwok-Yung, senior microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), has described the discovery of the disease of man as an alarm signal for better hygiene of the body. Environment in Hong Kong, also highlighting the need to prevent breeding rats.
"We do not know if, in the future, there will be a serious outbreak of hepatitis E virus in rats in Hong Kong. We must closely monitor this issue, "Kwok-Yung said at a press conference. He also noted that Hong Kong's hygiene had recently slipped despite the cleanliness that followed the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003.
According to Dr. Siddharth Sridhar of the microbiology department of HKU, who participated in the patient study, there is no imminent threat of epidemic or major hepatic disease. hepatitis, but public health authorities and researchers are on alert.
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