Epidemic of hepatitis E in a military unit in Abbotrabad, Pakistan.

An outbreak of hepatitis caused by hepatitis E virus (HEV) in Abbottabad, Pakistan was traced to fecal contamination of a water system. Of 109 men hospitalized with hepatitis, 104 (95%) had serologic evidence of acute hepatitis E (IgM antibody to HEV [anti-HEV]), three (3%) probably had acute hepatitis E (high titers of IgG anti-HEV without IgM), and two had acute hepatitis A. Among a subset of 44 men with acute hepatitis E from whom three serum specimens were obtained over a four-month period, the anti-HEV IgG geometric mean titers (GMTs) decreased from 1,519 during the outbreak to 657 at four months.