Hepatitis E in South Sudan: MSF treats hundreds since last April
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced since April 2023, they have treated 501 cases of Hepatitis E at the MSF hospital in Old Fangak, Jonglei state.
In addition, 19 deaths were reported, primarily in women.
The clinical course of hepatitis E is similar to that of hepatitis A with no chronic form of the disease. Jaundice, fever, loss of appetite and lethargy are common symptoms.
People are infected primarily through the fecal-oral route, usually through contaminated water or food.
Much like hepatitis A, the fatality rate is low with the exception of pregnant women where it can reach 40% among those infected. Liver failure is a frequent outcome with pregnant women.
This has prompted MSF to launch a mass vaccination campaign in collaboration with the Ministry of Health to safeguard women and girls of reproductive age, who are at greatest risk of death from the disease.
Hecolin (Xiamen Innovax Biotech, Fujian, China), the only hepatitis E vaccine, was licensed in China in 2012. In its 2015 position paper on hepatitis E vaccines, WHO recommended the consideration of hepatitis E vaccination to control outbreaks, including in pregnant women.
In 2022, the vaccine was used for the first time ever in a mass vaccination campaign carried out by MSF in Bentiu displacement camp, also in South Sudan, protecting over 25,000 people.
Hepatitis E is found endemically in countries that have inadequate environmental sanitation. It is most frequently seen in Asia, Africa, Central America and the Middle East.
According to WHO, every year, there are an estimated 20 million hepatitis E infections worldwide, leading to an estimated 3.3 million symptomatic cases of hepatitis E, and 56,600 hepatitis E-related deaths.