Hepatitis E is a viral hepatitis (liver inflammation) caused by infection with a virus called hepatitis E virus (HEV).
HEV is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA icosahedral virus with a 7.5 kilobase genome.
HEV has a fecal-oral transmission route. Infection with this virus was first documented in 1955 during an outbreak in New Delhi, India.
Although it was originally classified in the Caliciviridae
family, the virus has since been classified into the genus Hepevirus,
but was not assigned to a viral family.
The virus itself is a small
non-enveloped particle.
The genome is approximately 7200 bases in length, is a
polyadenylated single-strand RNA molecule that contains three
discontinuous and partially overlapping open reading frames (ORFs) along
with 5' and 3' cis-acting elements, which have important roles in HEV
replication and transcription. ORF1 encode a methyltransferase,
protease, helicase and replicase; ORF2 encode the capsid protein and
ORF3 encodes a protein of undefined function.
A three-dimensional,
atomic-resolution structure of the capsid protein in the context of a
virus-like particle has been described. An ''in vitro'' culture system
is not yet available.
As of 2009 there are approximately 1,600 sequences of both
human and animal isolates of HEV available in open-access sequence
databases.
Further Reading
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"Hepatitis E"
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