Prevalence of hepatitis E virus antibodies in workers occupationally exposed to swine in Portugal

Teixeira, Joana; Mesquita, João R.; Rodrigues, Sara; Oliveira, Rosa Honorato de; Abreu-Silva, Joana; Rodrigues, Ana Cristina; Myrmel, Mette; Stene‐Johansen, Kathrine; Øverbø, Joakim; Gonçalves, Guilherme; Nascimento, M.S.J.

doi:10.1007/s00430-016-0484-8

Cited by 42 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Therefore, these results suggest that a direct contact to pigs represents a remarkably high risk for HEV infection. This is in line with various previous studies [14,15,34,35,49,[52][53][54][55][56][57], while a few authors did not find evidence for such an association [58][59][60]. 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.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

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: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

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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“…Similarly, the seroprevalence of HEV infection among large animal farmers especially swine farmers (as highest 49.1%) was also high in China (Chiu, Chan, Yeung, & Ngai, ; Kang et al., ). In addition, anti‐HEV IgG seroprevalence in slaughterers, meat inspectors, pig farmers and veterinarians were significant high as 30.7% in Portugal (Berto et al, ; Teixeira et al., ). This three above studies suggested that swine also play a key important role in the spread of HEV.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High hepatitis E virus antibody positive rates in dogs and humans exposed to dogs in the south‐west of China

Zeng

Gao

Yan

et al. 2017

Zoonoses and Public Health

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Hepatitis E (HE) is a zoonotic viral disease caused by hepatitis E virus (HEV). The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of HEV infection among dogs and humans exposed to dogs in the south-west region of China. A total of 4,490 dog serum samples and 2,206 relative practitioner serum samples were collected from 18 pet hospitals and dog farms in Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou province, and the anti-HEV IgG antibodies were detected by ELISA. The results showed that the total positive rate of anti-HEV antibodies was 36.55% with the highest rate in city stray dogs, and the differences in distinct species and growth phases were significant. The positive rate of anti-HEV antibody in veterinarian and farm staff-related practitioners was significantly higher than the general population. The finding of the present survey suggested that high HEV seroprevalence in dogs and humans exposed to dogs in the south-west area of China poses a significant public health concern. It is urgent to improve integrated strategies to detect, prevent and control HEV infection in dogs and humans exposed to dogs in this area.

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“…HEV infection can occur during evisceration of an infected animal, through contact with its blood or faeces. Butchers and slaughterhouse workers were proven to have higher seroprevalence compared with the general population, what can confirm that cutting up carcasses might be a risk factor of HEV infection [ 29 ]. These hypotheses are supported by the appearance of HEV RNA in wild boars’ sera and faeces in many European countries: Belgium [ 30 ], Estonia [ 31 ], Germany [ 32 , 33 ], Netherlands [ 34 ], Slovenia [ 35 ], Sweden [ 36 ], Italy [ 37 ], and Portugal [ 38 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cross-sectional study among Polish hunters: seroprevalence of hepatitis E and the analysis of factors contributing to HEV infections

Baumann-Popczyk

Popczyk

Gołąb

et al. 2017

Med Microbiol Immunol

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Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is known as zoonotic agent. The main reservoirs of HEV in Europe are pigs, wild boars, and deer. Hunting activity is considered to be a risk factor for HEV infection. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 1021 Polish hunters. To understand socio-demographic characteristics of this population and to gather information on potential exposures, all participants completed a questionnaire. Commercial immunoassays were employed to estimate seroprevalence anti-HEV. Samples with confirmed positive result of anti-HEV IgM were examined for HEV RNA. Anti-HEV IgG were identified in 227 people, 22.2% of the studied group. Seroprevalence among the studied hunters was associated with age ≥65 [adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) 1.6, p = 0.037), living in a house (aPR 1.54, p = 0.013), professional contact with farm animals (aPR 1.09, p = 0.01), and consumption of stewed offal (aPR 1.61, p = 0.00). Washing hands after disembowelment was linked to lower seroprevalence (aPR 0.53; p = 0.00). Lower prevalence of anti-HEV IgG among hunters living in cities was associated with age: 35–49 (aPR 0.52, p = 0.011) and 50–64 (aPR 0.93, p = 0.58), living in a house (aPR 1.58, p = 0.002) and owning a cat (aPR 0.58, p = 0.042). Among hunters living in rural areas, seropositivity was associated with contact with farm animals (aPR 1.66, p = 0.013) and consumption of stewed offal (aPR 1.81; p = 0.001). Contrary to initial assumptions, it was concluded that hunting was of significantly lesser importance than other factors. Due to the high level of HEV seroprevalence identified, we recommend conducting a large-scale study in the general population of Poland.

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Prevalence of hepatitis E virus antibodies in workers occupationally exposed to swine in Portugal

Cited by 42 publications

References 23 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

High hepatitis E virus antibody positive rates in dogs and humans exposed to dogs in the south‐west of China

A cross-sectional study among Polish hunters: seroprevalence of hepatitis E and the analysis of factors contributing to HEV infections

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