How pregnancy itself drives deadly hepatitis E outcomes
Researchers have uncovered a biological mechanism that helps explain why hepatitis E virus infections can be especially severe—and often fatal—during pregnancy, finding that normal pregnancy-related hormonal changes inadvertently trigger a cascade allowing the virus to thrive.
Researchers have uncovered a biological mechanism that explains why hepatitis E virus infections can be especially severe and often fatal during pregnancy. Placental lactogen, a hormone that becomes elevated during pregnancy, triggers the production of fatty compounds that create conditions favoring the virus's ability to replicate itself.
This hormone-lipid-virus axis helps explain why pregnancy, particularly in the third trimester, is associated with severe hepatitis E outcomes, including liver failure, fetal complications, and maternal death. The study, a collaboration between Ohio State and Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Written by urgent.news from Medical Xpress's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
