Publication Date:
2018-05-09
Description:
We read with interest the paper by Todt et al 1 concerning the mutagenesis of Hepatitis E virus (HEV) caused by ribavirin treatment. HEV is a major cause of acute hepatitis worldwide and lacks a specific treatment. 1 2 It replicates in many extrahepatic sites (spleen, kidney, brain and muscle 3–5 ), but whether the testis is included is unknown. Active HEV has been detected in body fluids (blood, 2 urine 4 and milk 6 ), but no report exists for semen. Thus, HEV prevalence in the semen of infertile males (n=185) sexually abstinent for at least 2 days was investigated by reverse transcriptase-PCR. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee. Unexpectedly, 28.11% (52/185) of the males were HEV RNA positive (HEV RNA+; detectable HEV ORF1 and ORF2 were considered as HEV RNA+, figure 1A )...
Keywords:
Gut
Print ISSN:
0017-5749
Electronic ISSN:
1468-3288
Topics:
Medicine
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