In a case believed to be the first of its kind in the city, four people were infected with hepatitis E after receiving organs from the same donor, a hospital revealed yesterday.
According to Ming Pao, the organs — including a heart, lungs , a liver and two kidneys — came from a 40-year-old woman who died at the Princess Margaret Hospital in February.
The organs were donated to five people, with at least four of them coming down with hepatitis E.
The fifth patient, who received a lung, had already died but it is not clear if the death was related to a possible infection, RTHK reports.
Little information about the recipients has been revealed but the case was uncovered by Hong Kong University’s (HKU) department of microbiology, which subsequently informed Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam.
After the infections came to light, the Hospital Authority (HA) and the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) moved to contact affected patients to provide assistance and treatment, Ming Pao reported.
Hepatitis E — a liver disease caused by the hepatitis E virus (HEV) — is mainly transmitted by faecal contamination of drinking water.
According to Dr Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, a clinical professor with the department of medicine at Hong Kong University (HKU), the case is believed to be the first case of its kind in Hong Kong whereby hepatitis E was transmitted through an organ donation, HK01 reports.
He told the website that hepatitis E is not a virus that needs to be tested for in organ transplant procedures because it is very rare.
Dr Chau Ka-foon, head of the Department of Nephrology at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, also told HK01 that although hepatitis E can be fatal, the risk of death is still very low.
According to the CHP’s website, hospitalisation is generally not required as hepatitis E is usually self-limiting.
Exceptions, however, should be made for when people with the disease experience fulminant hepatitis — rapid liver failure — and also for pregnant women, who should seek medical treatment.
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