The first person in the world infected with hepatitis E

A Hong Kong man has recently been diagnosed with a type of hepatitis E that has never been seen before in humans, suspected to be infected by mice.

Strange virus E was discovered in the anonymous man from Choi Wan Estate (Hong Kong) when he went for a physical examination. It was a patient who had just undergone a liver transplant last year at the Institute - Queen Mary, of the University of Hong Kong, who was taking anti-rejection medication and monitored her health and liver condition regularly.

Test results showed that Hong Kong man became the first person infected with hepatitis E in the world - (illustration from SHUTTERSTOCK)

Hepatitis E is an unprecedented form of disease in humans, which occurs only in animals. People often get only 4 strains of hepatitis A, B, C, and D, with popularity declining and dangerously increasing in alphabetical order.

Scientists have quickly found a source of infection because of anxiety from the first case of hepatitis E in the world. Surveying at the place of the man's residence, people discovered many destructive traces of mice.

The mouse is said to be the host that transmitted the disease to the man - (artwork from the internet).

Scientists suspect that the disease can be transmitted by eating, when the above patient eats food contaminated by rat droppings .

Many rats around the area were captured to the lab, plus many fecal samples were collected in houses, sewers, trash bins . but they did not see the appearance of the virus. However, a frozen specimen taken from this area in 2012 was positive for hepatitis E, so scientists believe that a mouse with the disease still lurked somewhere.

Symptoms of hepatitis E in humans include fever, anorexia, abdominal pain, jaundice; Severe complications can lead to acute liver failure and death. Male patients mentioned above were treated medically and fortunately recovered.

The University of Hong Kong said more detailed information about the case will be presented in the report led by Professor Yuen Kwok-yung and Dr. Siddharth Sridhar, from the School of Microbiology, planning to publish in the medical journal Emerging Infectious Diseases next December.