Evidence of hepatitis E infection in swine and humans in the East Region of Romania

Aniţă, A.; Gorgan, Lucian; Aniţă, D.; Oșlobanu, Luanda; Pavio, Nicole; Savuța, Gheorghe

doi:10.1016/j.ijid.2014.10.018

Cited by 25 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…This is the result of the ever improving knowledge on HEV infection as well as the progress in modern diagnostic methods. The cases presented in this report are sporadic and autochthonous such as other non-travel related hepatitis E cases reported previously in the Netherlands, Germany, England and Wales, France, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Romania and Hungary [13,14,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. In this study, as in the previously reported cases, the male sex was more affected than the female sex, the mean age was 51 years [21,25].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Epidemiological characteristics and clinical manifestations of hepatitis E virus infection in Bulgaria: A report on 20 patients

et al. 2016

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Epidemiological characteristics and clinical manifestations of hepatitis E virus infection in Bulgaria: A report on 20 patients

et al. 2016

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“…Another study showed 60.3% positive results for anti-HEV IgG in pigs from three Bulgarian districts [34]. A Romanian study showed 39% seropositivity among industrial pigs and 50% seroprevalence in backyard pigs [42,43]. In Serbia, a total of 315 serum samples from 3 to 4-month-old healthy backyard pigs were collected, of which 34.6% were positive for anti-HEV IgG [44].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing Hepatitis E Virus Seroprevalence in Domestic Pigs and Wild Boar in Bulgaria

Takova

Koynarski

Minkov

et al. 2020

Animals

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(1) Background: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a causative agent of acute viral hepatitis, predominantly transmitted by the fecal–oral route. In developed countries, HEV is considered to be an emerging pathogen since the number of autochthonous cases is rising. Hepatitis E is a viral disease with a proven zoonotic potential for some of its genotypes. The main viral reservoirs are domestic pigs and wild boar. Consumption of undercooked meat, as well as occupational exposure, are key factors for the spread of HEV. In order to evaluate the risks of future viral evolution, a detailed examination of the ecology and distribution of the virus is needed. The aim of the present study is to investigate the prevalence of anti-HEV IgG Ab in domestic pigs and wild boar in Bulgaria; (2) Methods: In this study, during the period of three years between 2017 and 2019, 433 serum samples from 19 different pig farms and 1 slaughterhouse were collected and analyzed. In addition, 32 samples from wild boar were also collected and analyzed during the 2018–2019 hunting season. All samples were analyzed by commercial indirect ELISA; (3) Results: Overall, HEV seroprevalence was 60% (95% CI 42.7–77.1) in domestic pigs and 12.5% (4/32) in wild boar. The observed seroprevalence of the slaughter-aged pigs was 73.65% (95% Cl 58.7–87.3). Prevalence in domestic pigs was significantly higher in the samples collected during 2019 (98% (95% Cl 96.1–99.9)) compared to those collected during 2017 (45.33% (95% CI 2.7–87.3)) and 2018 (38.46% (95% CI 29.1–49.7.); (4) Conclusions: Our findings suggest that domesticated pigs and wild boar might be the reason for the increased HEV transmission across Bulgaria. The genotypic characterization of HEV found in pigs, wild boar and humans will give a more accurate view of the zoonotic transmission of this virus.

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“…The majority (64.0%, 89/139) of the individuals were born in Germany, while all slaughterers were born abroad, mainly in Poland and Romania. In both these Eastern European countries, HEV seroprevalence was previously estimated as 12.8-17.1% [39,40] which is comparable to the overall HEV seroprevalence in Germany [16]. The individuals with direct contact to pigs were recruited by the help of the German professional association of Butchers in the districts of Gütersloh, North Rhine Westphalia (79 individuals) and Emsland, Lower Saxony (35 individuals).…”

Section: Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV)-antibody tests: a comparative analysis based on samples from individuals with direct contact to domestic pigs or wild boar in Germany

Sommerkorn

Schauer

Schreiner

et al. 2017

Med Microbiol Immunol

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In Europe, Hepatitis E virus (HEV) genotype 3 causes most human infections, and domestic pigs and wild boar represent the main reservoirs. Contact to these animals represents one source of human infection. However, interpretation of studies is challenged in the absence of a serological gold standard. Hence, this study compared results of different HEV immunoassays. Plasma samples from 139 individuals who had professional contact to pigs (veterinarians, meat inspectors, slaughterhouse workers; n = 114) or hunted regularly (n = 25) were tested with assays specific for HEV IgG, HEV IgM, HEV IgA, and total HEV immunoglobulin as well as for viral RNA. Furthermore, overall HEV IgG was defined (i.e., two of three IgG assays reveal the same result) to compare serological findings. Borderline results were always quoted as positive. For IgG, apparent prevalence was higher in Wantai (48.2%) compared to Euroimmun (11.5%) and Mikrogen assays (17.3%) (p = 0.0001). The overall IgG prevalence was estimated to be 18.7%. For total Ig, Wantai (40.3%) also yielded higher prevalence than Euroimmun (15.8%) (p = 0.0001). The HEV IgM prevalence ranged from 0% (Euroimmun) to 4.3% (Mikrogen). Four percent of individuals tested IgA positive, whilst none harboured HEV RNA. Our results support previous studies that the higher IgG prevalence estimated with the Wantai assay result from a higher sensitivity of this test. However, further studies are needed to verify specificity given the challenge of defining true negative samples. The high percentage of individuals with HEV IgG observed in this study underlines that direct contact to pigs represents a risk factor for HEV infection.

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Evidence of hepatitis E infection in swine and humans in the East Region of Romania

Abstract: This is the first study showing HEV to be present in Romanian pig herds and that the human population is exposed.

Cited by 25 publications

References 39 publications

Epidemiological characteristics and clinical manifestations of hepatitis E virus infection in Bulgaria: A report on 20 patients

Epidemiological characteristics and clinical manifestations of hepatitis E virus infection in Bulgaria: A report on 20 patients

Increasing Hepatitis E Virus Seroprevalence in Domestic Pigs and Wild Boar in Bulgaria

Performance of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV)-antibody tests: a comparative analysis based on samples from individuals with direct contact to domestic pigs or wild boar in Germany

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