Watch Out for the Latest Hepatitis - HEP E -- As in Echo
5-1-18 said
Aug 4, 2022
Good luck with your healing Scotu, I can't imagine how this feels for you.
Did you stop at rest stops or restaurants along the way?
I hope you do well on the meds and get back to good health, and so glad your liver seems to be doing it's part recovering from this .
Tig said
Jul 25, 2022
Hi Scotu,
Wow! Thanks for sharing your story with us. You’re the first individual I’ve heard from that has/had HEV. It doesn’t sound like you spent much time, if any, thinking about it either. It‘s a strange set of experiences you’ve had along the way. Nothing sounds normal about them either.
I did some research on it, and typically most people infected with it are from third world countries with poor hygienic conditions. Fecal contamination of water, or food seems to be most common. As you mentioned, undercooked pork, wild game, and raw shellfish tend to be another source of the virus. Another statistic I found surprising is the WHO claims 20% of the global population has already had it, most unknowingly. It appears you’re the lucky one (?) that got clobbered by it. I’m so sorry you had to go through it. Haven’t all HCV Warriors paid the dues for liver health already? I think so!
It sounds like you’re on the mend, but to get to this point, and having to start Ribavirin again to do it, reminds me of some very difficult times experienced by many of us. That stuff caused us a lot of uncomfortable days, to say the least. Keep pounding down the water, stay out of the sun and wear good eye protection outdoors. Keep us informed and get well soon!
I was cured and my HEP C remains undetected for many years now (8-10+ years) thanks to many trial studies starting in 1999, mostly at the University of Pennsylvania. The last study/drug which finally worked was Sofosbuvir and Ledipasvir later commercially known as Harvoni.
My Liver was significantly damaged, 59% scared but improved to around 10% about 3-4 years ago.
Then came a near death road trip from our home in South Jersey to Nashville and Memphis. The locations (Memphis and Nashville) had nothing to do with my experience.
I just didn't feel right, and wound-up spending the four days in Memphis in bed with Flu like symptoms... Not COVID as I check several times as did the Hospital(s).
After 3 days in a Nashville hospital, then 3 days in a Delaware hospital (driving from Nashville to Philly/UPenn) I was too sick to continue, thus the stop at Christiana Care in Wilmington Delaware where I as diagnosed as being in Non-Compensated Liver Failure.
After 3 days in Delaware, I was transferred at 2am to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital where my Liver specialist (Director, Hepatology. Medical Director, Liver Transplantation, Founder's Professor in Hepatology. Professor of Medicine in Surgery) works.
After a several days of testing, poking and so on, I was diagnosed with Hepatitis "E".
Was asked repeatedly at the hospital(s) if I was a hunter or handled wild game meat, like Deer or Wild Boar -- I am not and did not. Handled some pork ribs at home for the grill.
So, as it turns out I had somehow contracted HEP E. While it can come from handling raw game meats, it can also come from raw shellfish. According to my Doctor I am one of only two known sever cases in the Greater Philadelphia/Delaware Valley.
So rare that my Doctor has sent a sample of my "poop" (the technical term) to the CDC for further study... luck me.
My wife of course blamed the spareribs I cut up and froze or the Shrimp I like to eat (after cooking).
After discharge from the hospital (14 days total, 3 hospital's) I now find myself back on "good old" Ribavirin which I took many times along with different variants of Interferon.
Bottom-line, not sure how I got HEP E, but my Liver numbers (AST, ALT, Alkaline Phosphatase, etc.) are improving but still a little high (they were off the chart when first hospitalized in Nashville). And the HEP E Quantative has be Undetected for the last 6 weeks (2 tests).
So, all I can say is pay attention to your body especially if you have had HEP C, which I believe left me in a slightly immuno-comprised state and perhaps more susceptible state.
Good luck with your healing Scotu, I can't imagine how this feels for you.
Did you stop at rest stops or restaurants along the way?
I hope you do well on the meds and get back to good health, and so glad your liver seems to be doing it's part recovering from this .
Hi Scotu,
Wow! Thanks for sharing your story with us. You’re the first individual I’ve heard from that has/had HEV. It doesn’t sound like you spent much time, if any, thinking about it either. It‘s a strange set of experiences you’ve had along the way. Nothing sounds normal about them either.
I did some research on it, and typically most people infected with it are from third world countries with poor hygienic conditions. Fecal contamination of water, or food seems to be most common. As you mentioned, undercooked pork, wild game, and raw shellfish tend to be another source of the virus. Another statistic I found surprising is the WHO claims 20% of the global population has already had it, most unknowingly. It appears you’re the lucky one (?) that got clobbered by it. I’m so sorry you had to go through it. Haven’t all HCV Warriors paid the dues for liver health already? I think so!
It sounds like you’re on the mend, but to get to this point, and having to start Ribavirin again to do it, reminds me of some very difficult times experienced by many of us. That stuff caused us a lot of uncomfortable days, to say the least. Keep pounding down the water, stay out of the sun and wear good eye protection outdoors. Keep us informed and get well soon!
Hepatitis E
I was cured and my HEP C remains undetected for many years now (8-10+ years) thanks to many trial studies starting in 1999, mostly at the University of Pennsylvania. The last study/drug which finally worked was Sofosbuvir and Ledipasvir later commercially known as Harvoni.
My Liver was significantly damaged, 59% scared but improved to around 10% about 3-4 years ago.
Then came a near death road trip from our home in South Jersey to Nashville and Memphis. The locations (Memphis and Nashville) had nothing to do with my experience.
I just didn't feel right, and wound-up spending the four days in Memphis in bed with Flu like symptoms... Not COVID as I check several times as did the Hospital(s).
After 3 days in a Nashville hospital, then 3 days in a Delaware hospital (driving from Nashville to Philly/UPenn) I was too sick to continue, thus the stop at Christiana Care in Wilmington Delaware where I as diagnosed as being in Non-Compensated Liver Failure.
After 3 days in Delaware, I was transferred at 2am to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital where my Liver specialist (Director, Hepatology. Medical Director, Liver Transplantation, Founder's Professor in Hepatology. Professor of Medicine in Surgery) works.
After a several days of testing, poking and so on, I was diagnosed with Hepatitis "E".
Was asked repeatedly at the hospital(s) if I was a hunter or handled wild game meat, like Deer or Wild Boar -- I am not and did not. Handled some pork ribs at home for the grill.
So, as it turns out I had somehow contracted HEP E. While it can come from handling raw game meats, it can also come from raw shellfish. According to my Doctor I am one of only two known sever cases in the Greater Philadelphia/Delaware Valley.
So rare that my Doctor has sent a sample of my "poop" (the technical term) to the CDC for further study... luck me.
My wife of course blamed the spareribs I cut up and froze or the Shrimp I like to eat (after cooking).
After discharge from the hospital (14 days total, 3 hospital's) I now find myself back on "good old" Ribavirin which I took many times along with different variants of Interferon.
Bottom-line, not sure how I got HEP E, but my Liver numbers (AST, ALT, Alkaline Phosphatase, etc.) are improving but still a little high (they were off the chart when first hospitalized in Nashville). And the HEP E Quantative has be Undetected for the last 6 weeks (2 tests).
So, all I can say is pay attention to your body especially if you have had HEP C, which I believe left me in a slightly immuno-comprised state and perhaps more susceptible state.