Changing patterns of acute viral hepatitis at a major urban referral center in Egypt.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Changes in the viral etiology of hospitalized patients can inform us of changes in the overall epidemiology of acute viral hepatitis infections. We hypothesized that improvements in health care and sanitation in the past 2 decades in Egypt have significantly impacted the viral causes of acute viral hepatitis in hospitalized patients. We compared the viral causes of acute viral hepatitis at a major urban referral center with results reported from the same center 20 years earlier. METHODS: Over a period of 10 months, 200 consecutive inpatients with clinical acute viral hepatitis were enrolled in the study, and serum samples were tested for hepatitis A through E, cytomegalovirus, and Epstein-Barr virus. RESULTS: The frequency of acute hepatitis B virus infection as a cause of symptomatic hepatitis decreased from 43.4% in 1983 to 28.5% in 2002 (P