Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24744181›Full record

ArticleMedical microbiology and immunology2014

Seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in humans living in high pig density areas of Germany.

Andi Krumbholz, Sebastian Joel, Paul Dremsek, Anne Neubert, Reimar Johne, Ralf Dürrwald, Mario Walther, Thomas H Müller, Detlef Kühnel, Jeannette Lange and 4 more

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Medical microbiology and immunology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
32citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
3.9field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

32 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Increasing trends in hepatitis E hospitalisations in Spain, 1997 to 2019.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2024
    Article
  9. Review
  10. Review
  11. Epidemiology of Hepatitis E in 2017 in Bavaria, Germany.Food and environmental virology · 2021
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.

Andi KrumbholzInstitute for Infection Medicine, Christian Albrecht University of Kiel and University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Brunswiker Strasse 4, 24105, Kiel, Germany, krumbholz@infmed.uni-kiel.de.
Sebastian Joel
Paul Dremsek
Anne Neubert
Reimar Johne
Ralf Dürrwald
Mario Walther
Thomas H Müller
Detlef Kühnel
Jeannette Lange
Peter Wutzler
Andreas Sauerbrei
Rainer G Ulrich
Roland Zell
Jena University Hospital · DEFriedrich Schiller University Jena · DEFriedrich-Loeffler-Institut · DEGerman Red Cross · DEFederal Institute for Risk Assessment · DEIDT Biologika (Germany) · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

An increase in acute autochthonous hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections has been recorded in Germany. These are suspected to be zoonotically transmitted from wild boar, deer and domestic pig. The latter may represent a major reservoir for HEV. In this study, 537 sera from humans living in Westphalia and Lower Saxony, representing areas of high pig density in Germany, were tested for the presence of HEV-specific antibodies. Among them were 302 individuals with occupational, direct contact to pigs and 235 individuals without direct contact to pigs. Two commercial tests and one in-house assay were applied for the detection of HEV-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies. Sera were also tested in an assay that detects all classes of HEV-specific antibodies. Depending on the test used, the seroprevalence ranged from 4.1 to 27.9 %. Exposition to pigs was found to be associated with a significantly higher seroprevalence in subjects with contact to pigs (13.2-32.8 %) compared with that in non-exposed humans (7.7-21.7 %). In particular, individuals younger than 40 years with occupational exposure exhibited a markedly higher HEV seroprevalence compared with non-exposed individuals of that age group. In general, HEV seroprevalence increased with age resulting in a similar prevalence level in the age group of ≥ 50 years for exposed and non-exposed individuals. Analysis of all sera by a commercial anti-HEV IgM ELISA revealed 35 positive and 25 borderline samples. However, only one positive serum could be confirmed by an IgM line assay. Selected samples from IgM and/or IgG as well as total HEV antibody-positive individuals were also tested for the presence of HEV RNA. In one of the 78 samples, the only IgM ELISA positive and IgM line assay confirmed sample, RNA of HEV genotype 3 was detected. This sequence has high similarity to HEV sequences obtained from wild boars and domestic pigs from Germany and The Netherlands. This study demonstrates that in addition to the consumption of raw or undercooked meat, direct contact to pigs has to be considered as an additional risk factor for HEV infection.

Indexed as

Disease ReservoirsOccupational ExposureSus scrofaAdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overAnimalsFemaleGermanyHepatitis AntibodiesHepatitis EHepatitis E virusHumansImmunoglobulin GMaleHepatitis AntibodiesImmunoglobulin G

Identifiers

PMID24744181
OpenAlexW1964381763

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.