The Prevalence of Hepatitis E Virus Infections among Swine, Swine Farmers and the General Population in Guangdong Province, China

Abstract

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is widespread in China, but few studies have been carried out in Guangdong Province. This study aimed to characterize the prevalence of HEV infections among swine, swine farmers and the general population in Guangdong Province. We conducted an epidemiological study that included swine, swine farmers and health examination attendees in Guangdong from 2011 to 2013. The overall seroprevalence of anti-HEV antibodies in swine was 64.7%. The results revealed that growing pigs, sows and boars (OR ranges from 3.5 to 21.5) have a higher risk than nursery pigs. HEV RNA in swine bile showed that HEV is epidemic in swine in the Pearl River Delta, with the highest prevalence of 22.73% in Foshan. Some genomes of HEV strains from each district were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis of partial open reading frame 2 (ORF2) shows that they belong to genotype IV and are most closely related to isolates from China. In total, 307 participants were enrolled in the study, including 114 swine farmers and 193 attendees from hospitals. IgG anti-HEV was detected in 48.25% of swine farmers and in 38.34% of the general population. Seroprevalence rates were almost stratified by age, with a higher positive rate for males compared to females across all age groups. Women on swine farms appeared to have a lower risk of infection compared to the general population, revealing that the risk factors for HEV infection are not unique. The results suggested that there were other risk factors for HEV infection. HEV infection is prevalent in Guangdong, but due to the small sample sizes, more investigations are needed to assess the potential impact of HEV infection, and many additional risk factors should be considered.

Seroprevalence and risk factors of hepatitis E virus infection among the Korean, Manchu, Mongol, and Han ethnic groups in Eastern and Northeastern China

“…This study, therefore, aimed at estimating the seroprevalence and risk factors of HEV infection in the Korean, Manchu, Mongol, and Han ethnic groups. The data showed that the seroprevalence of HEV infection in surveyed regions was 19.87% in this study, which was lower than the value of 23.30% in Jiangsu province, 38.34% in Guangdong province, 39.90% in Yunnan province, higher than the prevalence of 15.66% in xinjiang autonomous region, and similar to the 19.47% seroprevalence in Gansu province, China . Recently, some countries adjacent to China also reported the prevalence of HEV infection in local populations, such as 23.0% in Thailand, 9.4% in Korea, 14.4% in India, and 1/15 075 by detecting HEV‐RNA in Japan .…”

Clinical and virological profiling of sporadic hepatitis E virus infection in China

“…9,10 In the present study, the median age of patients was 57.5 years (10e78 years) and the gender ratio of male-to-female was 4.64:1. The possible reasons for this pattern of disease remain to be determined, but may involve diet and/or immune status.…”

Hepatitis E virus infection in swine workers: A meta‐analysis

“…As shown in Figure , a total of 1987 studies were initially found in CNKI, PubMed and OVID, in which 234 studies were potentially related to our study objectives and had a full text retrieved. Subsequently, 204 studies were excluded with reasons listed in Figure , and two studies were added in an updated search, yielding 32 studies for the meta‐analysis (Bouwknegt et al, ; Caruso et al, ; De Sabato et al, ; Drobeniuc et al, ; Engle, Yu, Emerson, Meng, & Purcell, ; Galiana, Fernandez‐Barredo, Garcia, Gomez, & Perez‐Gracia, ; Hinjoy et al, ; Hongwei, ; Jiang, Zheng, & Shijuan, ; Kang et al, ; Krumbholz et al, ; Lange et al, ; Lee et al, ; Liang et al, ; Liu et al, ; Love, Bjornsdottir, Olafsson, & Bjornsson, ; Lu et al, ; Masia et al, ; Meng et al, ; Nong, Li, & Yi, ; Olsen, Axelsson‐Olsson, Thelin, & Weiland, ; Silva et al, ; Traore et al, ; Utsumi et al, ; Vivek & Kang, ; Wu, Liao, Wang, Lou, & Wenzhong, ; Wu, Xie, et al, ; Yan et al, ; Yu et al, ; Zheng et al, ). Of the included studies, 24 were published in English and eight in Chinese.…”