25Hepatitis E virus (HEV) causes acute hepatitis in humans, and infects several animal species, 26 mostly asymptomatically. Swine and human HEV strains are genetically related suggesting 27 both a zoonotic and a possible foodborne transmission. The prevalence of swine HEV was 28 investigated in 274 randomly selected pigs from 6 different swine farms of Northern Italy, 29 testing viral RNA in stools by nested reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction. HEV 30 genome was detected in 115 stools (42%). All farms resulted positive for HEV, with a 31 prevalence ranging between 12.8% and 72.5%. HEV positive pigs were detected in all age 32 groups and production stages tested, although infection was more prevalent in weaners than in 33 the older fatteners (42.2% vs. 27.0%). Genetic characterization of swine strains identified was 34 performed by sequencing and database alignment. Phylogenetic analysis on the nucleotide 35 sequences from 16 positive PCR products indicated that all strains belonged to genotype 3. In 36 particular, one group of seven Italian strains clustered close (91.6% to 96.2% identity) to 37 human and swine European HEV strains. 38 39

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We determined the hepatitis E virus (HEV) seroprevalence and detection rate in commercial swine herds in Italy's utmost pig-rich area, and assessed HEV seropositivity risk in humans as a function of occupational exposure to pigs, diet, foreign travel, medical history and hunting activities. During 2011-2014, 2700 sera from 300 swine herds were tested for anti-HEV IgG. HEV RNA was searched in 959 faecal pools from HEV-seropositive herds and in liver/bile/muscle samples from 179 pigs from HEV-positive herds. A cohort study of HEV seropositivity in swine workers (n = 149) was also performed using two comparison groups of people unexposed to swine: omnivores (n = 121) and vegetarians/vegans (n = 115). Herd-level seroprevalence was 75·6% and was highest in farrow-to-feeder herds (81·6%). Twenty-six out of 105 (24·8%) herds had HEV-positive faecal samples (25 HEV-3, one HEV-4). Only one bile sample tested positive. HEV seropositivity was 12·3% in swine workers, 0·9% in omnivores and 3·0% in vegetarians/vegans. Factors significantly associated with HEV seropositivity were occupational exposure to pigs, travel to Africa and increased swine workers' age. We concluded that HEV is widespread in Italian swine herds and HEV-4 circulation is alarming given its pathogenicity, with those occupationally exposed to pigs being at increased risk of HEV seropositivity.

In the fall of 2019, a fatal encephalitis outbreak led to the deaths of >200 European hedgehogs ( Erinaceus europaeus) in England. We used next-generation sequencing to identify a novel arterivirus with a genome coding sequence of only 43% similarity to existing GenBank arterivirus sequences.

A live Eurasian badger (Meles meles) was admitted to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, West Hatch, Somerset, on August 10, 2018. It had been found in a local garden entangled in electric fencing. Examination of the badger under anaesthesia revealed a small number of papillomatous lesions on the right cheek and samples of the lesions were submitted to Animal and Plant Health Agency. Transmission electron microscopy analysis of the lesion material confirmed the presence of a papillomavirus and further histological examination of tissue samples from the lesion revealed features consistent with a finding of papillomatosis. Here we report the first diagnosis of papillomatosis due to a papillomavirus in Eurasian badgers, another infectious agent detected in this species.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the causative agent of hepatitis E, and is an unenveloped pos1tive sense single-stranded RNA wus. Swine HEV strains are genetically closely related to human strains from the same area, suggesting the occurrence of zoonotic transmission. Recently, human cases of hepatitiS E have been linked to the consumption of raw or undercooked meat or organs from deer, wild boars or p1gs. The disease is now considered an emerging food-borne transmitted zoonosis. During 2006, a pilot investigation was performed to determine the prevalence of HEV in pig farms located in Northern Italy., 274 faecal samples were collected from healthy fattening animals (3-4 and 8-9 months of age) and from healthy breeding animals (gilts and sows) from 6 different farms, and analyzed using a Nested-RT-PCR target1ng the open reading frame 2 (ORF2) region. Stool samples were suspended in water, and viral RNA extraction was performed using a commercial kit. Extracted viral RNA was subjected to RT-PCR amplification using degenerate primers conA 1-conS1 for the first amplification, and degenerate primers conA2-conS2 for the nested PCR, yielding a final fragment of 145 bp. HEV RNA was detected in sixty-nine of the 274 (25.2%) examined samples. None of the six farms resulted negative and the prevalence within the farms ranged between 2% and 60.5% For the characterization of the strains, randomly selected positive samples were subjected to nucleotide sequencing, and aligned with those present in the NCBI Data Bank Sequence analysis showed that all stra1ns were Swine Hepatitis E belonging to Genotype 3. These preliminary results confirm that swine HEV is widespread in Italian swine farms.