In Indonesia where hepatitis E virus (HEV) is believed to be highly endemic, only three outbreaks of HEV transmission have been documented to date in restricted areas (West Kalimantan and East Java). A total of 1,115 serum samples collected from apparently healthy individuals in Bali, Lombok, and Surabaya in Indonesia in 1996 where epidemic HEV transmissions have never been reported, were tested for IgG class antibodies to HEV (anti-HEV). In Bali, anti-HEV was detected in 20% (54/276) of the tested population, in remarkable contrast with 4% (17/446) in Lombok and 0.5% (2/393) in Surabaya. On the other hand, antibodies to hepatitis A virus were highly prevalent in all three regions (95% in Bali, 90% in Lombok, and 89% in Surabaya). Although the majority of the population in Indonesia is Moslem, Balinese people are mostly Hindu and have a habit of consuming pork. Therefore, serum samples were obtained from the 99 farm pigs in Bali and tested for anti-HEV and HEV RNA. The sera from 71 pigs (72%) were positive for anti-HEV and a 2-month-old pig had detectable HEV RNA. The swine HEV isolate recovered from the viremic pig was named SB66-Bali. The SB66-Bali isolate was most closely related to the genotype 4 isolates from China, India, Japan, and Taiwan, but shared only 82.6-90.0% identity in the common 241-412 nucleotides within open reading frame 2 (ORF2). These results indicate that a presumably indigenous HEV strain(s) is circulating in Bali, Indonesia and that HEV infection may occur via zoonosis even in developing countries.

A previous study revealed that antibodies to hepatitis E virus (HEV) (anti-HEV) are highly prevalent among healthy individuals and farm pigs in Bali, Indonesia, and suggested that HEV infection may occur via zoonosis among Balinese people. However, there were no reports of acute hepatitis E in Bali. To elucidate whether Balinese HEV strains recovered from infected humans and pigs have significant sequence similarity, serum samples obtained from 57 patients (age, mean +/- standard deviation, 31.1 +/- 11.9 years) with sporadic acute hepatitis and from one hundred and one 2- or 3-month-old farm pigs in Bali were tested for anti-HEV and HEV RNA. Among the 57 patients, 2 (3.5%) had high-titer IgM/IgA class anti-HEV antibodies and one of them had detectable HEV RNA (BaliE03-46). Overall, 58 pigs (57.4%) tested positive for anti-HEV, while 5 pigs (5.0%) had detectable HEV RNA. Based on the 412-nucleotide sequence within open reading frame 2, the BaliE03-46 isolate and the 5 swine HEV isolates recovered from the viremic pigs were phylogenetically classified in genotype 4, but were only 77.3-90.8% identical to the genotype 4 HEV isolates reported thus far in China, India, Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The BaliE03-46 isolate of human origin shared high identities of 97.3-98.3% with 4 of the 5 Balinese swine isolates, but differed by 16.1% from the remaining swine isolate. These results suggest that indigenous HEV strains of genotype 4 with marked heterogeneity are circulating in Bali, Indonesia, and that pigs are reservoirs of HEV for Balinese people who have a habit of ingesting uncooked pigs.

Latar Belakang: Sirosis hati (SH) sering disertai tingginya resistensi insulin dan kondisi proinflamasi. Resistin yang merupakan suatu adipokin, diketahui memiliki hubungan dengan resistensi insulin dan inflamasi. Studi-studi resistin pada SH memperlihatkan hasil yang bervariasi. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mencari hubungan kadar resistin serum dengan skor Child-Turcotte Pugh (CTP) pada penderita SH. Metode: Penelitian observasional, studi potong lintang ini dilaksanakan di RSUP Sanglah dari September 2014 sampai dengan Juni 2015 dengan menggunakan 75 pasien sirosis hati sebagai sampel. Kriteria inklusi mencakup pasien sirosis hati tanpa memandang etiologinya dan berusia 12 tahun atau lebih. Variabel yang diperiksa pada penelitian ini yaitu skor CTP (kadar albumin serum, kadar bilirubin total serum, nilai waktu protrombin, kadar international normalized ratio (INR), tanda ascites, tanda ensefalopati hepatikum), kadar C-reactive protein (CRP), dan kadar resistin serum. Hasil: Enam puluh lima persen dari 75 sampel adalah laki-laki dan sisanya perempuan. Sebelas diantaranya (14,7%) adalah kelas CTP A, 31 (41,3%) kelas CTP B, dan 33 (44%) kelas CTP C. Rerata kadar CRP adalah 15,05 ± 15,86 mg/L. Rerata kadar resistin adalah 23,39 ± 17,79 ng/mL. Hasil uji korelasi didapatkan korelasi positif yang sedang antara kadar resistin dan skor CTP (r = 0,438; p < 0,001). Korelasi positif sedang juga didapatkan antara CRP dan resistin (r = 0,478; p < 0,001). Simpulan: Kadar resistin memiliki korelasi sedang dengan skor CTP pada pasien SH. Kadar resistin didapatkan lebih tinggi kadarnya pada SH yang berat. Hal ini menunjukkan adanya kondisi inflamasi dan resistensi insulin seiring dengan peningkatan derajat beratnya SH.

Background: This study aimed to compare the diagnostic performance of aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI), fibrosis index based on four factors (FIB-4), red cell distribution width to platelet ratio (RPR), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase to platelet ratio (GPR), aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase ratio (AAR), and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in assessing the degree of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B.Methods: A cross-sectional analytic study was done to analyze the data taken from the medical records of all chronic hepatitis B patients examined using TE at Sanglah Hospital Denpasar, Bali. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was done to compare the resulting indices of accuracy for each biomarker.Results: From the total of 93 samples, it was found that the number of samples for each degree of fibrosis was 42 (45.16%) F0-1, 17 (18.27%) F2, 7 (7.52%) F3, and 27 (29.03%) F4. Significant differences for each degree of fibrosis (p<0.005) were found in APRI, FIB-4, RPR, GPR, and AAR score but not NLR (p = 0.897). Higher AUC and indices of accuracy were observed with more severe degree of fibrosis. GPR with the cut-off value of 0.367 for significant fibrosis, 0.559 for severe fibrosis, and 0.698 for cirrhosis had the greatest AUC and diagnostic accuracy.Conclusion: The diagnostic performance of GPR was better than other biomarkers, and the diagnostic accuracy increased along with an increasing degree of fibrosis. Future study on the applicability of GPR alongside APRI and FIB-4 in liver fibrosis assessment is needed.

Background:The model for end stage liver disease (MELD) score considered as a reliable predictor of survival for advanced liver diseases patients. Among several chemistry laboratorium examinations, albumin, bilirubin and platelet reflect the function of the liver. Objectives: To investigate the correlation of albumin-bilirubin (ALBI), platelet-albumin-bilirubin (PALBI), and fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) scores with mortality risk based on MELD score and evaluate their role in predictingcirrhosis mortality risk. Methods: The analytic cross-sectional study designrecruited adults with liver cirrhosis of any etiology during the period of November 2018 through January 2019. Descriptive and correlative analyses were done before proceeding to diagnostic abilityanalysis. Results: Sixty-two patients with mean age of 52.95 ± 12.05 were included in the analysis. The ALBI, PALBI, and FIB-4 scores were significantly correlated with higher mortality risk based on MELD score. The three scoressignificantly predicted higher mortality risk with varying sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion: Positivecorrelation between ALBI, PALBI, and FIB-4 scores with MELD score was found. ALBI (≥-1.26), PALBI (≥-2.05), and FIB-4 (≥5.84) values higher than the thresholdcould predict mortality risk in cirrhosis.