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Publication Information
Affiliation
Department of Transfusion Medicine, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1184, USA.
Authors
Alter HJ, Brown KE, Hatzakis A, Heringlake S, Kiyosawa K, Lee WM, Manns MP, Orii K, Ostapowicz G, Shih JW, Tanaka E, Tassopoulos NC, Umemura T, Wang RY, Yeo AE, Young NS
Studies
Citation
Umemura T, Tanaka E, Ostapowicz G, Brown KE, Heringlake S, Tassopoulos NC, Wang RY, Yeo AE, Shih JW, Orii K, Young NS, Hatzakis A, Manns MP, Lee WM, Kiyosawa K, Alter HJ. Investigation of SEN virus infection in patients with cryptogenic acute liver failure, hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia, or acute and chronic non-A-E hepatitis. J Infect Dis 2003 Nov 15;188(10):1545-52. Epub 2003 Oct 28.Abstract
SEN virus (SENV) has been tentatively linked to transfusion-associated non-A-E hepatitis. We investigated SENV's role in unexplained hepatitis in other settings. Polymerase chain reaction amplification was used to detect 2 SENV variants (SENV-D and SENV-H) in 1706 patients and control subjects. SENV was detected in 54 (22%) of 248 patients with acute or chronic non-A-E hepatitis, 9 (35%) of 26 patients with hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia, and 0 of 17 patients with cryptogenic acute liver failure, compared with 150 (24%) of 621 control subjects with liver disease and 76 (10%) of 794 healthy control subjects. When controlling for geographic region, the prevalence of SENV among case and control subjects was not significantly different. The severity of acute or chronic hepatitis A, B, or C was not influenced by coexisting SENV infection. No etiological role for SENV in the cause of cryptogenic hepatitis could be demonstrated.