Hepatitis E /

Hepatitis E is a viral hepatitis (liver inflammation) caused by infection with a virus called hepatitis E virus (HEV). HEV is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA icosahedral virus with a 7.5 kilobase genome. HEV has a fecal-oral transmission route. It is one of five known hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E. Infection with this virus was first documented in 1955 during an outbreak in New Delhi, India. Although it was originally classified in the Caliciviridae family, the virus has since been classified into the genus Hepevirus, but was not assigned to a viral family. The virus itself is a small non-enveloped particle. The genome is approximately 7200 bases in length, is a polyadenylated single-strand RNA molecule that contains three discontinuous and partially overlapping open reading frames (ORFs) along with 5' and 3' cis-acting elements, which have important roles in HEV replication and transcription. ORF1 encode a methyltransferase, protease, helicase and replicase; ORF2 encode the capsid protein and ORF3 encodes a protein of undefined function. A three-dimensional, atomic-resolution structure of the capsid protein in the context of a virus-like particle has been described. An