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Hepatitis E is caused by infection with the hepatitis E virus (HEV), a nonenveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. HEV replicates in the hepatocytes and is excreted in stool. Transmission is predominantly by the fecal-oral route, usually through contaminated water. Although person-to-person transmission is rare, maternal-neonatal transmission has been documented. The incubation period ranges from 15 to 60 days. The virus is detected in stools as early as 1 week prior to onset of clinical illness and persists for 1 to 2 weeks afterwards, during which stools are highly infectious. Anti HBE antibody (IgM) appears soon after the onset of the clinical infection, immunoglobulin G (IgG) soon after that and IgG remains detectable for as long as 20 months.

There is only one cause of hepatitis E an infection with the hepatitis E virus (HEV). The hepatitis E virus is an RNA virus that belongs to the genus hepevirus of the Hepeviridae family.

When a person is infected with the hepatitis E virus, the virus is able to enter liver cells from the blood and then use those cells to make more copies of the hepatitis E virus. As more and more of the hepatitis E virus is made in the liver cells, the cells can become damaged and may even die.

A person infected with the hepatitis E virus may develop a sudden onset of fever, extreme tiredness, nausea, lack of appetite, abdominal pain (or stomach pain), and yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes (known as jaundice). Yet, not everyone infected with the hepatitis E virus will develop symptoms.

Unlike several other types of viral hepatitis, a person with hepatitis E will not develop a long-term liver infection (known as chronic hepatitis). Also, once you have had hepatitis E, you cannot get it again.

Hepatitis is a general term meaning inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis is a disease that can be caused by a variety of different viruses such as hepatitis A, B, C, D and E. Since the development of jaundice is a characteristic feature of liver disease, a correct diagnosis can only be made by testing patients’ sera for the presence of specific viral antigens and/or anti-viral antibodies.

Hepatitis E (HEV) was not recognized as a distinct human disease until 1980. Hepatitis E is caused by infection with the hepatitis E virus, a non-enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus.

Although man is considered the natural host for HEV, antibodies to HEV or closely related viruses have been detected in primates and several other animal species.