Publication details

Molecular Characterization and Phylogenetic Analysis of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) Strains from Pigs Farmed in Eight European Countries between 2020 and 2022

Authors

LUCA De Sabato IANIRO Giovanni ALBORALI Giovanni L KRONEMAN Annelies GRIERSON Sylvia S KRUMOVA-VALCHEVA Gergana Lyubomirova HAKZE-VAN der Honing Renate W JOHNE Reimar KOLÁČKOVÁ Ivana KOZYRA Iwona GYUROVA Eva PAVONI Enrico REISP Katharina SASSU Elena Lucia SCHILLING-LOEFFLER Katja SMITH Richard Piers VASICKOVA Petra ZMUDZKI Jacek RZEZUTKA Artur ILARIA Di Bartolo

Year of publication 2023
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Medicine

Citation
Web https://www.hindawi.com/journals/tbed/2023/2806835/
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2023/2806835
Keywords Hepatitis E Virus
Description In high-income countries, the hepatitis E virus (HEV) is considered an emerging threat causing autochthonous acute hepatitis in humans, with an increased number of reported cases over the last 10 years and related increased burden of chronic hepatitis in immunocompromised and transplant patients. Pigs are the main reservoir of the HEV-3 genotype, which is the most common in Europe, and can be transmitted to humans through the consumption of raw and undercooked pork products. Extensive sequencing revealed the existence of several HEV-3 subtypes in both humans and pigs, confirming a broad heterogeneity of the virus, with some subtypes, such as 3e, 3f, and 3c, which are predominant in Europe. In this study, 291 HEV sequences were obtained from pig feces sampled in more than 74 farms located in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, as well as an unknown number of farms in Netherlands. Of the 99 nonidentical sequences (99/291), 90 were assigned to seven established HEV-3 subtypes: 3a, 3c, 3e, 3f, 3g (here named 3g-like), 3i, and 3l (named 3l-like), already described in Europe, while nine sequences of HEV-3 could not be assigned to any existing subtype (here named 3 *). The 3e subtype was the most common, detected in six out of eight countries, followed by 3f and 3c, which were also present in several countries; 3g-like, 3i, and 3l-like subtypes showed only a limited circulation. The distribution of frequently (3e, 3f, and 3c) and rarely (3g-like, 3i, and 3l-like) detected HEV-3 subtypes in pigs was correlated with their detection rates in human patients in Europe. The results from this study confirm the wide circulation of several HEV-3 strains in European pigs and confirm that sequencing is needed to monitor the different strains and to identify possible zoonotic transmission paths.

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.

More info