Hepatitis E virus: Western Cape, South Africa

Table 1 Data (%) for total population overall and age group seroprevalence and 95%CI in 3 racial groups in Western Cape, South Africa

Age group (yr)	Total population (n = 1161)		Black African population (n = 389)		MA/Coloured population (n = 452)		White population (n = 320)
	IgG (n)	HEV Seroprevalence % (95%CI)	IgG (n)	HEV Seroprevalence % (95%CI)	IgG (n)	HEV Seroprevalence % (95%CI)	IgG (n)	HEV Seroprevalence % (95%CI)
0-4	6/72	8.3 (3.9-17.0)	2/36	5.6 (1.5-18.1)	4/31	12.9 (5.1-28.9)	0/51	0 (0-43.4)
5-9	6/78	7.7 (3.6-15.8)	1/26	3.8 (0.7-18.9)	5/45	11.1 (4.8-23.5)	0/71	0 (0-35.4)
10-14	7/72	9.7 (4.8-18.7)	3/27	11.1 (3.9-28.1)	4/42	9.5 (3.8-22.1)	0/31	0 (0-56.2)
15-19	8/95	8.4 (4.3-15.7)	4/23	17.4 (7.0-37.1)	4/42	9.5 (3.8-22.1)	0/301	0 (0-11.4)
20-29	17/179	9.5 (6.0-14.7)	2/62	3.2 (0.9-11.0)	9/54	16.7 (9.0-28.7)	6/63	9.5 (4.4-19.3)
30-39	42/142	29.6 (22.7-37.5)	14/52	26.9 (16.8-40.3)	17/45	37.8 (25.1-52.4)	11/45	24.4 (14.2-38.7)
40-49	67/153	43.8 (36.2-51.7)	22/62	35.5 (24.7-47.9)	22/49	44.9 (31.9-58.7)	23/42	54.8 (39.9-68.8)
50-59	62/126	49.2 (40.6-57.8)	15/36	41.7 (27.1-57.8)	26/47	55.3 (41.2-68.6)	21/43	48.8 (34.6-63.2)
60-69	67/152	44.1 (36.4-52.0)	24/43	55.8 (41.1-69.6)	19/58	32.8 (22.1-45.6)	24/51	47.1 (34.1-60.5)
70-79	34/68	50.0 (38.4-61.6)	6/17	35.3 (17.3-58.7)	16/29	55.2 (37.5-71.6)	12/22	54.5 (34.7-73.1)
80+	8/24	33.3 (18.0-53.3)	1/5	20.0 (3.6-62.4)	2/10	20.0 (5.7-51.0)	5/9	55.6 (26.7-81.1)
Total	324/1161	27.9 (25.3-30.5)	94/389	24.2 (20.2-28.7)	128/452	28.3 (24.4-32.6)	102/320	31.9 (27.0-37.2)

Overall seroprevalence was 27.9% and age adjusted seroprevalence was 21.9%.

¹Numbers too small to calculate a meaningful confidence interval. HEV: Hepatitis E virus.

Table 2 Risk factor analysis

Potential risk factors (n = 131)	Univariate analyses
	Groups	n (IgG%)	P value	OR (95%CI)
Race (n = 161)	Black African (n = 389)	94 (24.2%)	0.073	-
	MA/Coloured (n = 452)	128 (28.3%)		1.24 (0.91-1.69)
	White (n = 320)	102 (31.9%)		1.47 (1.06-2.04)
Gender (n = 161)	Male (n = 541)	161 (29.8%)	0.189	-
	Female (n = 620)	163 (26.3%)		0.842 (0.65-1.09)
Pork (n = 131)	Yes (n = 690)	228 (33.0%)	< 0.001	1.93 (1.45-2.55)
	No (n = 441)	90 (20.4%)		-
Sausage (n = 131)	Yes (n = 853)	248 (29.1%)	0.210	1.22 (0.90-1.66)
	No (n = 278)	70 (25.2%)		-
Bacon/Ham (n = 131)	Yes (n = 707)	220 (31.1%)	0.004	1.50 (1.14-1.98)
	No (n = 424)	98 (23.1%)		-
Fish (n = 131)	Yes (n = 1055)	299 (28.3%)	0.532	1.19 (0.69-2.03)
	No (n = 76)	19 (25.0%)
Shellfish (n = 131)	Yes (n = 548)	163 (29.7%)	0.238	1.17 (0.90-1.52)
	No (n = 583)	155 (26.6%)		-
Type of dwelling (n = 161)	Formal Dwelling (n = 1050)	296 (28.2%)	0.642	-
	Shack in Yard (n = 88)	21 (24.0%)		0.80 (0.48-1.40)
	Shack not in Yard (n = 19)	5 (26.3%)		0.91 (0.33-2.55)
	Other (n = 4)	2 (50.0%)		2.55 (0.36-18.17)
Water access (n = 1161)	Piped dwelling (n = 1041)	292 (28.0%)	0.516	-
	Piped yard (n = 68)	17 (25.0%)		0.855 (0.49-1.51)
	Community tap (n = 44)	11 (25.0%)		0.855 (0.43-1.71)
	No water access (n = 8)	4 (50.0%)		2.565 (0.64-10.32)
Proximity to coast (n = 1160)	Coastal (n = 114)	32 (28.0%)	0.935	-
	Under 5 km (n = 209)	62 (29.7%)		1.081 (0.65-1.79)
	5-10 km (n = 313)	85 (27.2%)		0.955 (0.59-1.54)
	Over 10 km (n = 524)	145 (27.7%)		0.980 (0.62-1.54)
Refuse disposal (n = 1160)	Local authority (n = 1124)	315 (28.0%)	0.725	-
	Communal dump (n = 20)	5 (25.0%)		0.856 (0.31-2.40)
	Own dump (n = 8)	3 (37.5%)		1.541 (0.37-6.50)
	No rubbish disposal (n = 8)	1 (12.5%)		0.367 (0.05-3.00)
HIV status (n = 891)	Positive (n = 60)	14 (23.3%)	0.340	1.35 (0.73-2.50)
	Negative (n = 831)	242 (29.1%)		-
Age group (n = 1156)	< 30 yr (n = 496)	44 (8.9%)	< 0.001	-
	≥ 30 yr (n = 660)	280 (42.4%)		7.569 (5.36-10.70)
Multivariate analysis (n = 1126)
Pork	Yes (n = 686)	228 (33.2%)	< 0.001	7.679 (5.38-10.96)
Age group	≥ 30 yr (n = 660)	276 (42.3%)	< 0.001	2.021 (1.50-2.73)