Hepatitis E: a neglected threat.

Hepatitis E, responsible for explosive waterborne outbreaks and sporadic cases of acute hepatitis in developing countries, affects predominantly young adults and has a fatality rate as high as 25% in pregnant women. No effective treatment exists for hepatitis E; however, a vaccine using a baculovirus-expressed recombinant hepatitis E capsid protein was recently studied in Nepal. In this review, the progress made in hepatitis E research and the recently concluded vaccine trial of the recombinant protein vaccine are briefly discussed.