Abstract:
HEV infection in pregnant women is more common and fatal in the third trimester and the incidence of viral hepatitis E is known for being the cause of major outbreaks of waterborne hepatitis in Africa.
This descriptive, cross- sectional, hospital based studywas aimed to detect HEV among pregnant women attending Khartoum North Hospital during the period from February to December 2019.
A total of 90 subjects (n=90) were included in this study with age ranged from 19-42 years and the mean age was 30.5±5S.D and mostly in third trimester.
Blood samples were collectedand tested for total anti-HEV, anti-HEV IgM and IgG antibodies by Enzyme Linked ImmunosorbantAssay (ELISA).
Out of the 90 pregnant women who took part in the study, 36 (40%) were found positive for HEV and 5/90 (5.6%) were positive for HEV IgM antibodies, while 36/90 (40%) were positive for HEV IgG.
Regarding age groups, there were13(14.4%)in age group 19-26 years, 11(12.3%) in age between 27 to 34 years were positive for HEV and 12(13.3%) in age group from 35 to 42 years. There was no significant association (P=0.833) between age and HEV result.
Concerning trimester,13(14.5) were found positivefor HEV in third trimester and 11(12.2%),12 (13.3%) were in first and second trimester respectively with significant association (P=0.051) between them.
Relating to source of drinking water, 25 (28.8%) were positive for HEV antibodies in pregnant women drink from non filtered water and 11(12.2%) was positive they drink from filtered water and there no significant association (P=0.926) between them.
Regarding education level there were20(22.2%) HEV positive in educated women and 16(17.8%) in non- educated women and there was no significant association (P=0.482) between them.
HEV was associated with previous miscarriage in which about 24% were HEV IgGpositive.
From the above findings we concluded that, there was high percentage of HEV infection among pregnant women attending Khartoum North Hospital.
