RESUMO
Melioidosis has been detected in the Caribbean, and an increasing number of cases has been reported in the past few decades, but only 2 cases were reported in Guadeloupe during the past 20 years. We describe 3 more cases that occurred during 2016-2017 and examine arguments for increasing endemicity.
Assuntos
Burkholderia pseudomallei/isolamento & purificação , Melioidose/diagnóstico , Idoso , Antibacterianos/uso terapêutico , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Evolução Fatal , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Melioidose/diagnóstico por imagem , Melioidose/tratamento farmacológico , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Tomografia Computadorizada por Raios XRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a leading cause of acute hepatitis in developing countries and an emerging pathogen in Europe. HEV seroprevalence has rarely been assessed in cohorts of travelers, and previous studies have reported a very low rate of exposure. We assessed HEV seroprevalence in French expatriate workers. METHODS: The prevalence of HEV IgG and IgM was assessed among 43 French expatriate workers using two commercial microplate enzyme immunoassays (Adaltis and Wantai). Additionally HEV IgG-positive sera were tested with an immunoblot assay (recomLine), while IgM-positive sera were tested with a rapid immunochromatographic assay (Assure). RESULTS: The prevalence of anti-HEV IgG was 3.7 times higher in French expatriates than in comparable blood donors from the same area. A discrepancy was evidenced between the HEV IgG results obtained by the Wantai and Adaltis assays (48.8% vs. 30.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Expatriation from France, including to areas not recognized as hyperendemic for HEV, may expose individuals to HEV infection. This issue warrants further study; in particular, serology should be compared before and after travel. The most sensitive Wantai serological assay should be used for epidemiological studies to obtain better insight into the epidemiology of HEV.