Subclinical hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection detected by nucleic acid amplification test on blood donation: short-term positivity for immunoglobulin G class of antibody against HEV

A case of subclinical hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection was detected by nucleic acid amplification test on blood donation. The patient was followed-up until day 220 after the blood donation but showed no symptoms throughout the observation period. Aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels reached the maximum values on day 37 with a slight increase but remained in normal ranges from day 67 to 220. The quantity of HEV RNA at the initial examination on day 13 was 1.1 × 10² copies/mL, which increased to 2.8 × 10³ copies/mL by day 37. It was not detected from day 67 to 220. Immunoglobulin G class antibody to HEV (anti-HEV IgG) was below the cut-off value until day 37 and exceeded the cut-off value to positive on day 67, accompanied by normalization of liver function and negative conversion of HEV RNA. Thereafter, the titer decreased gradually, falling below the cut-off value on day 163, and continuing negative until day 220. Although the persistent duration of anti-HEV IgG positive is believed to be generally long, it was within only 126 days for this subclinical case. Further investigation is needed to determine whether short-term positivity for anti-HEV IgG is typical in subclinical HEV infection.