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Australian transplant recipients are at risk of chronic hepatitis E

James P Newcombe, Stella McGinn, Bruce Wong, Archie Darbar and George Kotsiou
Med J Aust 2017; 206 (7) || doi: 10.5694/mja16.01204
Published online: 17 April 2017

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) genotype 3, the most common genotype in high income countries, is transmitted by ingestion of high risk food — including pork, deer and shellfish — and by blood transfusion. Rural residence, travel to hyperendemic areas (eg, southern Europe) and animal exposure are other risk factors.1

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  • Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW



Acknowledgements: 

We thank Paul Collett and David Waugh, renal physicians from the Royal North Shore Hospital, for their assistance with patient recruitment.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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  • 9. Australian Red Cross Blood Service. Hepatitis E study kicks off [website]. Alexandria: ARCBS; 2016. http://www.transfusion.com.au/BSIB_July2016_8 (accessed Jan 2017).

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