Nepal at high risk of Hepatitis E outbreak post earthquake

Researchers claimed that 500 pregnant women can die from the virus in the coming months and many more could be sickened

After all the problems Nepal citizens faced due to the recent earthquake they still can't live in peace as now the nation is facing a very high risk of a hepatitis E outbreak.

The document signed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Alain Labrique and six others, stated that the conditions in the April tremor that killed 8,800 people and injured more than 23,000 have left conditions ripe for hepatitis E virus (HEV), which spreads from feces to mouth via contaminated water.

The researchers also claimed that 500 pregnant women can die from the virus in the coming months and many more could be sickened.

Though there is a safe and effective vaccine available for the disease, it is currently only licensed for use in China.

Moreover, the World Health Organization has not recommended its routine use because there is a need for additional safety and efficacy data, particularly amongst pregnant women.

The researchers recommend that Nepalese health authorities should actively work to identify cases of the disease where expectant women are being treated and that the Nepalese Ministry of Health should initiate a request for the vaccine to build a stockpile.

Associate Professor Labrique said that Hepatitis E is a neglected virus that hasn't been well understood but they were now seeing that it was likely a major cause of maternal deaths in countries where it is common.

The research is published in the Journal Lancet.