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Hepatitis E symptoms

Alexey Portnov, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024

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The incubation period is not exactly established, but there is reason to believe that it ranges from 10 to 40 days, maximum 7 weeks. In the experience of voluntary infection, an incubation period of 36 days was recorded.

trusted-source [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6],

The first symptoms of hepatitis E

Symptoms of hepatitis E begin gradually with the appearance of asthenodyspeptic signs. Weakness is observed, increasing during 3-4 days, worsening of appetite, nausea, abdominal pain. Increased body temperature is not often observed. On the 3rd-4th day of the onset of the disease, dark urine appears. The pre-egg period lasts from 1 to 10 days. Jaundice can reach maximum severity within a few hours, but more often develops within 2-3 days. With the appearance of jaundice, the symptoms of intoxication, unlike hepatitis A, do not disappear. Patients remain weak, have poor appetite, complain of pain in the epigastric region and right hypochondrium, there may be itching and subfebrile body temperature. These symptoms of hepatitis E are kept for several days after the development of jaundice. Almost all patients in the icteric period are palpated with enlarged liver. An increase in the spleen is observed in 68.6% of cases.

Signs of hepatitis E in the midst of a disease

At the height of icteric period, hyperbilirubinemia is noted - exceeding normal values by 2-10 times, and the conjugated fraction is 1 / 2-2 / 3 of the total level of bilirubin. Hyperfermentemia can reach high values, while the activity of ALT and ACT increases 5-10 times. The activity of alkaline phosphatase increases. The indices of thymol assay fluctuate within the norm or slightly increase (no more than 1.5 times). There is a significant decrease in the mercury titre - below 0.0016 liters.

The duration of icterus is from 2 to 3 weeks. In post-zheltushnom period gradually normalize the size of the liver, return to the boundaries of the norm indicators of hepatic cell enzymes and sediment samples.

For clinical evaluation of this disease, it is advisable to use the generally accepted classification of viral hepatitis. In this case, the type, severity and course of the disease are characterized. In hepatitis E, the most varied forms of the disease are registered - from jaundice and blurred to severe, and cases of malignant disease are described.

The course and outcome of hepatitis E

Symptoms of hepatitis E are characterized by acute course. Histological studies carried out in individual convalescents several months after the disease, showed complete morphological repair of liver tissue. Formation of chronic hepatitis in the outcome of this disease was not observed.