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Hepatitis

Hepatitis E and decompensated chronic liver disease

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is the most common cause of hepatitis worldwide. In the developing world, HEV infection is also a common cause of decompensation in patients with chronic liver disease and has a very high mortality. Could the same be true in the UK? A recent paper examines this issue.

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Figure 1: Univariate regression analysis of the mean mortality from chronic liver disease for the years 1990, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000, compared with the mean annual pork consumption in 18 developed countries.7

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H. R. Dalton has received travel, accommodation and consultancy fees from GlaxoSmithKline and Wantai.

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Dalton, H. Hepatitis E and decompensated chronic liver disease. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 9, 430–432 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2012.121

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