3 died from hepatitis E, 7 infected in Japan.

TOKYO, July 21 Kyodo

At least three people died from the hepatitis E virus (HEV) which is believed to have spread in parts of northern and northeastern Japan by the 1990s, a Tokyo-based hospital researcher said Sunday.

This is the first confirmation of HEV-related deaths in Japan, prompting the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to launch a probe into the spread of the virus found mainly in developing countries with high rainfall, poor sanitation and spread through consumption of water or food contaminated with feces of the virus carriers.

A survey led by Shunji Mishiro, research director at Toshiba Hospital, confirmed seven people in Hokkaido, Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture were infected with HEV in addition to the three who died.

Mishiro analyzed the HEV in the seven, who had never left the country, and was able to classify the virus into three strains, leading him to conclude that the virus entered the country from three routes.

Of those who died, one woman from Hokkaido was diagnosed as suffering from acute hepatitis last year and received a partial liver transplant from a living donor, but her condition became worse. According to Mishiro, HEV was detected in a blood sample.

Meanwhile, another research group detected HEV in blood samples of two elderly men in the Tohoku region who died of unspecified acute hepatitis in the 1990s.