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World J Virol. Jun 25, 2024; 13(2): 91580
Published online Jun 25, 2024. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v13.i2.91580
Pathogenesis and clinical features of severe hepatitis E virus infection
László Orosz, Károly Péter Sárvári, Áron Dernovics, András Rosztóczy, Klára Megyeri
László Orosz, Károly Péter Sárvári, Áron Dernovics, Klára Megyeri, Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Szeged, Szeged 6720, Csongrád-Csanád, Hungary
András Rosztóczy, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, University of Szeged, Szeged 6725, Csongrád-Csanád, Hungary
Author contributions: Orosz L, Sárvári KP, Dernovics Á, Rosztóczy A, and Megyeri K collected the data and wrote the paper.
Supported by Interreg V-A Romania-Hungary Programme, No. ROHU339.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Klára Megyeri, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Szeged, Dóm tér 10, Szeged 6720, Csongrád-Csanád, Hungary. megyeri.klara@med.u-szeged.hu
Received: December 31, 2023
Revised: February 8, 2024
Accepted: April 15, 2024
Published online: June 25, 2024
Processing time: 176 Days and 1.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) typically causes a self-limiting infection, but it can establish a persistent infection progressing into chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis or acute liver failure, particularly in individuals with compromised immune systems and preexisting liver diseases. In recent decades, the prevalence of hepatitis E has increased dramatically, and this trend continues unabated. Thus, a better understanding of the pathogenesis of hepatitis E and the development of more effective prevention and treatment strategies have become an urgent medical problem. We herein discuss the major features of HEV, the conditions predisposing to severe hepatitis E, and the underlying pathological immune processes.