Impact
The hepatitis E virus causes around 20 million infections a year. These result in around three million acute illnesses and 70,000 deaths annually. It is particularly dangerous for pregnant women, who can develop an acute form of the disease that is lethal in 20 per cent of cases. The virus (HEV) is a major cause of illness and of death in the developing world and disproportionate cause of deaths among pregnant women. Although HEV vaccine trials, including trials conducted in populations in southern Asia, have shown candidate vaccines to be effective and well-tolerated, these vaccines have not yet been produced or made available to susceptible populations. The exception is China. After more than a year of scrutiny and inspection by China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), a hepatitis E vaccine developed by Chinese scientists will be available by the end of 2012. There is no licensed hepatitis E vaccine for use in the US.
Read more about this topic: Hepatitis E
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