Prevalence of Hepatitis E Virus Infection in Pigs at the Time of Slaughter, United Kingdom, 2013

Grierson, Sylvia S.; Heaney, Judith; Cheney, Tanya; Morgan, Dilys; Wyllie, Stephen; Powell, L. F.; Smith, Donald B.; Ijaz, Samreen; Steinbach, Falko; Choudhury, Bhudipa; Tedder, Richard S.

doi:10.3201/eid2108.141995

Cited by 88 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(34 reference statements)

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“…Based on the tendencies found in our study (HEV IgG prevalence, serological evidence of (post)acute HEV infection) and the support from literature [38], we hypothesize that professional exposure to domestic pigs is a stronger risk factor than having occasional contact to wild boar when hunting. This can be explained by the remarkably high circulation of HEV in domestic pigs [54,[61][62][63][64].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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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“…HEV-3 and HEV-4 RNA is present throughout the pork food chain worldwide [130,133,139,140,141,142,143]. Studies have reported that 3%–11% of pig liver samples at the slaughterhouse are HEV positive in France (4%) [144], the Netherlands (6.5%) [145], Czech Republic (5%) [141], Italy (6%) [140], Spain (3%) [140], the United Kingdom (3%) [146], Japan (5%) [147] and the US (11%) [148].…”

Section: Transmission Pathways Of Zoonotic Hevmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zoonotic Hepatitis E Virus: Classiﬁcation, Animal Reservoirs and Transmission Routes

Doceul

Bagdassarian

Demange

et al. 2016

Viruses

216

199

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During the past ten years, several new hepatitis E viruses (HEVs) have been identified in various animal species. In parallel, the number of reports of autochthonous hepatitis E in Western countries has increased as well, raising the question of what role these possible animal reservoirs play in human infections. The aim of this review is to present the recent discoveries of animal HEVs and their classification within the Hepeviridae family, their zoonotic and species barrier crossing potential, and possible use as models to study hepatitis E pathogenesis. Lastly, this review describes the transmission pathways identified from animal sources.

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“…In Europe, high HEV seroprevalence has been detected in swine from Spain [143, 144], Italy [145–147], Norway [29], Denmark [148], UK [149, 150], Estonia [151], Germany [152, 153], or Switzerland [154, 155]. According to the seroprevalence data, 76% to 98% of Spanish swine farms have evidence of HEV presence [143, 144, 156, 157].…”

Section: Hev In Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hepatitis E Virus in Industrialized Countries: The Silent Threat

Clemente-Casares

Ramos-Romero

Ramirez-Gonzalez

et al. 2016

BioMed Research International

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Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the main cause of acute viral hepatitis worldwide. Its presence in developing countries has been documented for decades. Developed countries were supposed to be virus-free and initially only imported cases were detected in those areas. However, sporadic and autochthonous cases of HEV infection have been identified and studies reveal that the virus is worldwide spread. Chronic hepatitis and multiple extrahepatic manifestations have also been associated with HEV. We review the data from European countries, where human, animal, and environmental data have been collected since the 90s. In Europe, autochthonous HEV strains were first detected in the late 90s and early 2000s. Since then, serological data have shown that the virus infects quite frequently the European population and that some species, such as pigs, wild boars, and deer, are reservoirs. HEV strains can be isolated from environmental samples and reach the food chain, as shown by the detection of the virus in mussels and in contaminated pork products as sausages or meat. All these data highlight the need of studies directed to control the sources of HEV to protect immunocompromised individuals that seem the weakest link of the HEV epidemiology in industrialized regions.

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Prevalence of Hepatitis E Virus Infection in Pigs at the Time of Slaughter, United Kingdom, 2013

Abstract: Pigs raised in the United Kingdom are unlikely to be the source of UK human infections.

Cited by 88 publications

References 28 publications

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

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

Zoonotic Hepatitis E Virus: Classiﬁcation, Animal Reservoirs and Transmission Routes

Hepatitis E Virus in Industrialized Countries: The Silent Threat

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