“The Risks and Reality of Hepatitis E Virus Worldwide and in Korea”

[이데일리 이순용 기자] A wide variety of viruses cause acute viral hepatitis, in which liver tissue becomes inflamed. In particular, hepatitis E virus (HEV), which is occurring worldwide, is less known than other hepatitis viruses such as A, B, and C.

According to the World Health Organization, 20 million people are infected with the hepatitis E virus each year. Of these, 16.5% resulted in acute hepatitis accompanied by symptoms, which resulted in 44,000 deaths in 2015.

In Korea, it was designated as a class 2 infectious disease in 2020, relatively late compared to other viruses, and started to be managed. Hepatitis E patients were counted as 191 in 2020, 494 in 2021, and 528 in 2022, and in 2022, the number of patients started to increase from March when the weather warmed up, and the most patients were in May.

It is spread by ingesting water or food contaminated with patient feces, or by direct consumption of undercooked bile or liver of animals contaminated with the virus, processed meat products such as jamon or salami, meat, shellfish, etc. Cross-contamination through vectors is the main route of transmission. Rarely, it can also be spread through syringes, blood transfusions, and vertical transmission from pregnant women to the fetus.

In particular, in Korea, there are many cases of eating raw meat food such as raw liver of cows or raw fish and shellfish raw, so there is a high risk of infection. When the virus enters the intestinal bloodstream through the large intestine and small intestine, enters the liver, and proliferates in hepatocytes, it causes inflammation of the liver. After an incubation period of 15 to 64 days, symptoms such as fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, jaundice, joint pain, fatigue, and loss of appetite appear. There are many asymptomatic infections with no symptoms at all, so you can become an infection source without knowing yourself.

In most patients, symptoms improve and are cured if sufficient rest and nutrition are taken along with symptomatic treatment. However, depending on the type of hepatitis E virus, symptoms may become severe and cause sequelae or progress to chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. Acute liver failure, a serious disease that requires liver transplantation, can occur in about 1% of patients, so accurate diagnosis and management are necessary.

In addition, taking folk remedies or herbal medicines at will can strain the liver and worsen the condition, so you must consult with a specialist to take prescribed medications. It is good to refrain from alcohol, cigarettes, overeating, and excessive exercise that can put a strain on liver health, and eat regular meals with a diet that can consume even nutrients.

Daedong Hospital Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Center Director Lim Tae-won said, “Not many people know about the hepatitis E virus, but it is a disease that can be infected unknowingly through the food we eat. “Not only viral hepatitis, but as the weather gets hotter, you need to be careful about digestive system diseases such as food poisoning caused by food intake,” he advised.

In the case of hepatitis E virus, there is no vaccine, so it should be managed as a general prevention method. ▲Learn to wash your hands correctly ▲Cook food ▲Boil water ▲Hygienic cooking environment ▲Do not cook if you have symptoms such as diarrhea.