Evidence for the presence of hepatitis E virus in pigs in the United Kingdom

Banks, M.; Heath, G. S.; Grierson, Sylvia S.; King, Donald P.; Gresham, A.; Gironés, Rosina; Widén, Frederik; Harrison, Tim J.

doi:10.1136/vr.154.8.223

Cited by 106 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(49 reference statements)

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“…Infection in pigs can be symptomatic [59][60][61] but most often infections remain clinically undetected [47,[62][63][64][65]. Close relatedness has been found between HEV gt3 nucleotide sequences from pigs and wild boar and those from human cases [6,32,41,51,60,61,63,64,[66][67][68][69][70][71].…”

Section: Potential For Zoonotic Transmission By Direct Animal Contactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmission routes and risk factors for autochthonous hepatitis E virus infection in Europe: a systematic review

2009

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SUMMARYIncreasing numbers of non-travel-associated hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections have been reported in Europe in recent years. Our objective was to review the evidence on risk factors and transmission routes of autochthonous HEV infection and hepatitis E in Europe in order to develop recommendations for future research, prevention and control. A systematic literature review was performed to identify all primary reports and studies published during 1998-2008 on hepatitis E in humans and animals in Europe by searching Pubmed, reference lists of major articles and international conference proceedings. Each of the 106 included studies was categorized into one of three evidence levels (EL) based on study design and diagnostic methodology. The evidence was generally weak (73 were assigned to EL1, two to both EL1 and EL2, and 30 to EL2), further compounded by the use of poorly validated serological assays in some studies. Only one casecontrol study was assigned to EL3. Persons with autochthonous hepatitis E infection were on average older than the general population and predominantly male. There was no evidence for one main transmission route of HEV infection or risk factor for hepatitis E. However, zoonotic transmission seemed likely and person-to-person transmission too inefficient to cause clinical disease. Multiple routes of transmission probably exist and should be further investigated through analytical studies and reliable diagnostic kits. Based on current evidence that points to zoonotic transmission from pigs, thorough cooking of all porcine products, prevention of crosscontamination in the kitchen and improved education for occupationally exposed people (e.g. pig farmers, veterinarians and sewage workers) may help prevent HEV infection. Although evidence for parenteral transmission is limited, it is recommended that a risk assessment is undertaken.

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Section: Potential For Zoonotic Transmission By Direct Animal Contactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmission routes and risk factors for autochthonous hepatitis E virus infection in Europe: a systematic review

2009

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“…A study in which sera from 336 Spanish patients diagnosed for idiopathic acute hepatitis was reevaluated 14 found seroprevalence of 8.9% using anti-HEV IgM. Other studies carried out in several European countries such as Austria, 21 England, 2 France, 9 and Italy 23 have found autochthonous cases with a high percentage of nucleotide similarity to porcine strains from the same geographic area. In summary, this work could serve to highlight the production stages in which pigs are in most danger of infecting other pigs.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the UK, 26.19% of 12-to 15-week-old pigs were found to be shedding HEV in feces on 2 farms studied. 2 In New Zealand, 37.8% of 7-to 17-week-old pigs from 2 farms (45 pigs) were found to be shedding HEV in feces. 5 In the USA 25 (26.3%) 2-to 4-month-old pigs out of 95 were reported to be shedding the virus.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…11 Several swine HEV isolates were subsequently identified in pigs in Canada, 22 Japan, 12 Korea, 4 New Zealand, 5 the Netherlands, 19 and the UK. 2 The aim of this work was to study the prevalence of HEV in pig feces in Spain and determine the production stages in which HEV is shed by the highest number of pigs, in order to estimate the relative risk associated with each stage. To do this, 146 pigs were selected at random for the study from 21 farms.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Detection of Hepatitis E Virus Shedding in Feces of Pigs at Different Stages of Production Using Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction

et al. 2006

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Abstract. The aim of this study was to determine at which production stages hepatitis E virus (HEV) is shed by the highest number of pigs and to estimate the relative risk associated with each stage. For this purpose, 146 fecal samples of pigs from 21 farms were studied. In addition, 1 sample from the manure ditch and another sample of drinking water, collected directly from the trough located in the pen, were taken from 16 farms. HEV RNA was detected in fecal samples from 34 pigs (23.29%). The production stages in which most pigs excreted HEV were weaners (41.7%) and pigs in the first month of feeding (60%). The results of the statistical analysis showed that the principal significant risk stage in HEV shedding was the first month of feeding (odds ratio [OR] 19.5, 95% CI 3.59-106.07, P 5 0.001) followed by the weaners stage (OR 9.3, 95% CI .78-48.42, P 5 0.008). In 8 out of 16 farms tested (50%) HEV RNA was detected in raw manure and in the water trough of only 1. Detection of HEV in manure ditches raises the concern of how to deal with manure of swine origin, because it is used as soil fertilizer.

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“…Pigs are supposed to be infected with HEV via the fecal-oral route continuously, since pigs habitually eat feces naturally. Several epidemiological studies reported HEV shedding in up to 17-week-old pigs [23,[30][31][32]. An opportunity to come in contact with contaminated feces increases the intake of virus by pigs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution and Propagation of Hepatitis E Virus in Experimentally Infected Swine

Hagiwara¹,

Iwabu²,

Kanai³

et al. 2007

TOVSJ

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HEV infections in human and pigs have been reported in many countries; however, the precise distribution and multiplication of this virus in the host remains poorly understood. In this study, we examined the distribution and multiplication of HEV genotype 3 in two piglets at the early phase of intravenous infection, and also examined the virus distribution in a naturally infected pig. We developed real-time RT-PCR to determine copy numbers of the HEV genome in the sera, feces and organs. HEV-RNA was detected in serum from a pig transiently for 7 days post-inoculation (dpi). The HEV copy numbers in the feces appearing 7 dpi were increased to 3.4x10 6 copies/g at 14 dpi. In contrast, the higher copy numbers of HEV were widely distributed in the tissue organs from naturally HEV-infected pig. The study showed that intravenously inoculated HEV was distributed in several restricted tissues, such as in the liver and intestine.

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Evidence for the presence of hepatitis E virus in pigs in the United Kingdom

Cited by 106 publications

References 34 publications

Transmission routes and risk factors for autochthonous hepatitis E virus infection in Europe: a systematic review

Transmission routes and risk factors for autochthonous hepatitis E virus infection in Europe: a systematic review

Detection of Hepatitis E Virus Shedding in Feces of Pigs at Different Stages of Production Using Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction

Distribution and Propagation of Hepatitis E Virus in Experimentally Infected Swine

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