Background Behçet’s disease (BD) is a multisystem disorder originally described by the Turkish dermatologist Hulusi Behçet. Although its aetiology is unknown, vasculitis is widely accepted as the underlying pathological process. Viral infections, especially hepatitis B and C viruses, have been proposed to be triggering factors via soluble immune complexes in vasculitic syndromes. Viral aetiology has also been postulated in the etiopathogenesis of BD. A possible association of Hepatitis C virus have been investigated previously, but no definite relationship has been found. More recently, serological evidences of previous Hepatitis A, Hepatitis C and Hepatitis E virus infections were found to be similar between Behçet’s patients and control group.

Objectives In this cross-sectional study we aimed to investigate the prevalence of Hepatitis E virus (HEV), which is the major cause of non-parenteral non-A non-B hepatitis, in our group of patients with BD.

Methods Sixty-four patients (22 female, 42 male, mean age: 39, min-max: 16–68) were enrolled in this study. Clinical and demographical characteristics of our study group were given in table. Hepatitis E antigen was studied in serum of patients using commercial kits (International Immuno-Diagnostics, USA).

Results Seropositivity for HEV was detected in 3 patients (4.69%). This result is comparable to previous report of seroprevelance of HEV in Turkish population (5.9%).

Conclusion We concluded that HEV does not seem to have a place in the etiopathogenesis of BD, at least in our population.