Seroepidemiology of hepatitis E virus infection among preschool children in Taiwan

In order to study the seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection among preschool children in Taiwan, a community-based survey was carried out in 54 kindergartens in 10 urban areas, 10 rural areas, and 2 aboriginal areas randomly selected through stratified sampling. Serum specimens of 2,538 preschool children were screened for HEV antibodies (anti-HEV) by a commercially available enzyme immunoassay. The odd ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated through multiple logistic regression analysis. A total of 86 children were anti-HEV seropositive, giving a prevalence of 3.4%. The prevalence of anti-HEV was 3.9%0 (19 of 484) among aboriginal children, a significantly increased seroprevalence compared with that among children who lived in urban areas (OR= 1.68; 95% CI = 1.56-2.95; P < 0.05). Females had a higher anti-HEV seroprevalence than the males (OR = 1.55; 95% CI = 1.14-2.54; P<0.05). Rates of anti-HEV antibody increased with age in aboriginal areas (chi(2) for trend=5.59, P=0.02), but decreased with age in non-aboriginal areas. The poor water supply system, poor sewage disposal, exposure to wild animals, and other environmental conditions in the aboriginal areas might have played a role in their infection with HEV in Taiwan. (C) 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.