OBJECTIVETo investigate the infection of HEV in Quzhou area of Zhejiang Province.

METHODSAll sera from blood donors in the central blood bank of Quzhou from April 2006 to April 2007 were used. Anti-HEV IgG and anti-HEV IgM were measured by EIA. RT-PCR was also performed to the samples with positive anti-HEV IgM. Genotype and sequence homology were analyzed after sequencing.

RESULTSThe positive ratio of anti-HEV IgG was 40.60%, in which the male infection ratio was higher than the female significantly (43.09% VS 36.09%; chi2=22.6; P < 0.01). The infection ratio was increased with age. The positive ratio of anti-HEV IgM was 0.43%. The positive ratio of anti-HEV IgG and the titers of antibody were higher in the inferior clinical infectors with positive anti-HEV IgM than the negative ones (P < 0.05). Two samples were positive in HEV PCR among 21 samples with positive anti-HEV IgM. The toxemia ratio was 0.4% of all the donors. And the genotype of the two samples with toxemia were both HEV-IV.

CONCLUSIONThe HEV infection was correlation with age and sex significantly and the infection occurred in the adults mainly in Quzhou area. HEV toxemia was not infrequency in the blood donors.