scholarly journals Serological Evidence of Hepatitis E Virus Infection in Semi-Domesticated Eurasian Tundra Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Norway

Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1542
Author(s):  
Christine Hanssen Rinaldo ◽  
Ingebjørg Helena Nymo ◽  
Javier Sánchez Romano ◽  
Eva Marie Breines ◽  
Francisco Javier Ancin Murguzur ◽  
...  

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a common cause of viral hepatitis in humans. In developing countries, HEV-infections seem to be mainly associated with pigs, but other animal species may be involved in viral transmission. Recently, anti-HEV antibodies were detected in Norwegian wild reindeer. Here, we investigated anti-HEV seroprevalence in Norwegian semi-domesticated reindeer, animals in closer contact with humans than their wild counterparts. Blood samples (n = 516) were obtained from eight reindeer herds during the period 2013–2017 and analysed with a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay designed for detecting anti-HEV antibodies in livestock. Antibodies were found in all herds and for all sampling seasons. The overall seroprevalence was 15.7% (81/516), with adults showing a slightly higher seroprevalence (18.0%, 46/256) than calves (13.5%, 35/260, p = 0.11). The seroprevalence was not influenced by gender or latitude, and there was no temporal trend (p > 0.15). A positive association between the presence of anti-HEV antibodies and antibodies against alphaherpesvirus and pestivirus, detected in a previous screening, was found (p < 0.05). We conclude that Norwegian semi-domesticated reindeer are exposed to HEV or an antigenically similar virus. Whether the virus is affecting reindeer health or infects humans and poses a threat for human health remains unknown and warrants further investigations.

2015 ◽  
pp. 4602-4613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Forero D ◽  
Cristian Gutiérrez V ◽  
Jaime Parra S ◽  
Guillermo Correa L ◽  
Berardo Rodríguez ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTObjective. To detect the presence of specific antibodies against Hepatitis E virus (HEV) in pigs slaughtered in Antioquia, the department where the greatest amount of pork is produced and consumed in Colombia. Materials and methods. Between September 2011 and May 2012, blood samples from pigs were obtained in five slaughterhouses of Antioquia, four of them located in the Aburrá Valley subregion and other located in northern subregión. Serum were evaluated with a commercial ELISA kit for diagnosing HEV in humans but adapted to detect IgG and IgM antibodies in pigs. Results. A 100.0% seropositivity for IgG antibodies was found in 1000 samples evaluated, and 82.06% for IgM antibodies were found in 740 samples. Conclusions. These results indicate that pigs in slaughter age in Antioquia, and possibly in Colombia, have been exposed to HEV at some point in their production process and a high percentage of them can arrive to slaughterhouses with recent infection.RESUMENObjetivo. Detectar la presencia de anticuerpos específicos contra el virus de la Hepatitis E (HEV) en cerdos faenados en Antioquia, departamento donde se produce y consume la mayor cantidad de carne de cerdo en Colombia. Materiales y métodos. Entre septiembre de 2011 y mayo de 2012, se obtuvieron muestras de sangre de cerdos en cinco plantas de faenado, cuatro de ellas ubicadas en el Valle de Aburrá y una en la subregión Norte del departamento de Antioquia, las cuales fueron evaluadas mediante un kit de ELISA comercial para diagnóstico de HEV en humanos pero adaptado para la detección de anticuerpos tipo IgG e IgM en cerdos. Resultados. Se encontró una seropositividad de 100.0% para anticuerpos tipo IgG en 1000 muestras evaluadas y de 82.06% para anticuerpos tipo IgM en 740 muestras. Una muestra de heces positiva para la detección del genoma HEV es similar al genotipo 3 encontrada en Estados Unidos. Conclusiones. Estos resultados indican que los cerdos en edad de faenado en Antioquia y posiblemente en Colombia, han tenido exposición a HEV del, un virus zoonótico emergente a nivel mundial, en algún momento de su proceso productivo.


2005 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cláudia L Vitral ◽  
Marcelo A Pinto ◽  
Lia L Lewis-Ximenez ◽  
Yuri E Khudyakov ◽  
Débora R dos Santos ◽  
...  

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 224
Author(s):  
Carlos Sacristán ◽  
Knut Madslien ◽  
Irene Sacristán ◽  
Siv Klevar ◽  
Carlos G. das Neves

Hepatitis E virus (HEV), a major cause of viral hepatitis worldwide, is considered an emerging foodborne zoonosis in Europe. Pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) and wild boars (S. scrofa) are recognized as important HEV reservoirs. Additionally, HEV infection and exposure have been described in cervids. In Norway, HEV has been identified in pigs and humans; however, little is known regarding its presence in wild ungulates in the country. We used a species-independent double-antigen sandwich ELISA to detect antibodies against HEV in the sera of 715 wild ungulates from Norway, including 164 moose (Alces alces), 186 wild Eurasian tundra reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus), 177 red deer (Cervus elaphus), 86 European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), and 102 muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus). The overall seroprevalence was 12.3% (88/715). Wild reindeer had the highest seropositivity (23.1%, 43/186), followed by moose (19.5%, 32/164), muskoxen (5.9%, 6/102), and red deer (4%, 7/177). All roe deer were negative. According to our results, HEV is circulating in wild ungulates in Norway. The high seroprevalence observed in wild reindeer and moose indicates that these species may be potential reservoirs of HEV. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of HEV exposure in reindeer from Europe and in muskoxen worldwide.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Li ◽  
Mingxia Liu ◽  
Jingjing Cong ◽  
Yufa Zhou ◽  
Zengmin Miao

Background. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a significant pathogen of viral hepatitis and can be transmitted through fecal-oral route. Epidemiological data concerning HEV in goats, however, are relatively sparse to date. Here, the prevalence and characteristics of HEV isolated from goats at slaughterhouse were investigated in Tai’an region, China. Methods. Anti-HEV immunoglobulin G (IgG) in blood samples and HEV RNA in the liver samples were determined by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and a nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. In addition, partial nucleotide sequences of open reading frame 2 (ORF-2) of HEV isolates were analyzed. Results. Fifty goat blood samples (46.7%, 50/120) were masculine for anti-HEV IgG. HEV RNA was detected in 2 liver samples (4.0%, 2/50) and belonged to genotype 4 subtype 4 h, with high identity (91.2–93%) with cow HEV strains detected in the same province, China. Conclusions. These findings demonstrated that goats may be an important reservoir for HEV and can become a major source of HEV infection in humans via food chain.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Xu ◽  
Jing Gao ◽  
Shilin Li ◽  
Min Zeng ◽  
Jianming Wu ◽  
...  

Abstract Emerging infectious pathogens that threaten blood transfusions are known to be present in blood samples from healthy/qualified donors. The objective of this study was to investigate the microbiome of blood from healthy donors from the Luzhou area in southwestern China. Potential pathogens and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in the donor blood were identified. Total plasma nucleic acids were extracted from one pool of 5734 samples and were constructed for metagenomics analysis using Illumina sequencing. The microbiome and potential emerging/re-emerging pathogens were identified using bioinformatics analysis. Moreover, CMV antigen was measured via an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the CMV DNA level was assessed by quantitative RT-PCR. A total of 132 bacterial reads, 65 viral reads and 165 parasitic reads were obtained. The most frequent bacterium was Escherichia coli (95/132, 72%) with 95 reads in 132 bacterial reads, and the most prevalent parasite was Toxoplasma gondii (131/165, 79%). Among the viruses, cytomegalovirus (44/65, 68%) accounted for the highest frequency, followed by Hepatitis E Virus (10/65, 15%). Moreover, the positive rate of CMV-IgG was 46.25% (2652/5734), and the positive rate of CMV-IgM was 5.82% (334/5734). The positive rate of dual positive (IgG+ and IgM+) CMV was 0.07% (4/5734). Twenty-one (0.37%) specimens from 5734 donated blood samples were positive for CMV DNA. The CMV DNA levels ranged from 7.56 × 102 to 3.58 × 103 copies/mL. The current study elucidated the microbiome structure in blood from healthy/qualified donors in the Luzhou area and identified emerging/re-emerging pathogens. This preliminary study contributes to information regarding blood transfusion safety in China.


Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 492
Author(s):  
Magdalena Baymakova ◽  
Krasimira Terzieva ◽  
Rumen Popov ◽  
Elisaveta Grancharova ◽  
Todor Kundurzhiev ◽  
...  

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is widespread among domestic pigs, industrial swine, and wild boars in Bulgaria. The aim of the current research was to present the HEV seroprevalence among blood donors in Bulgaria. In the present study, 555 blood donors (479 males and 76 females) were enrolled from five districts in the country (Shumen, Pleven, Stara Zagora, Plovdiv, and Sofia districts). All blood samples were tested for anti-HEV IgG using the recomWell HEV IgG ELISA test (Mikrogen GmbH, Neuried, Germany). Each participating donor completed a short, structured, and specific questionnaire to document data on the current study. Anti-HEV IgG positive results were detected in 144 (25.9%) blood donors, including 129 (26.9%) males and 15 (19.7%) females. The established HEV seropositivity was 28.8% (23/80) in Shumen district, 23.2% (22/95) in Pleven district, 27.1% (38/140) in Stara Zagora district, 27.5% (44/160) in Plovdiv district, and 21.3% (17/80) in Sofia district. A high HEV seroprevalence was found for persons who declared that they were general hunters (48.7%; 19/39; p = 0.001) and hunters of wild boars (51.6%; 16/31; p = 0.001). We present the first seroprevalence rates of HEV infection in blood donors from Bulgaria. The results of our research showed high HEV seropositivity among blood donors.


Author(s):  
G. I. Alatortseva ◽  
A. V. Sidorov ◽  
L. N. Nesterenko ◽  
L. N. Luhverchik ◽  
M. V. Zhukina ◽  
...  

Aim. The development of the hepatitis E virus (HEV) genotype 1 full-size ORF3 recombinant polypeptide. Materials and methods. Escherichia coli strains, plasmid vectors, serological and clinical samples, ELISA reagent kits, molecular biological, bioinformatic, biotechnological, biochemical and serological methods. Results. HEV genotype 1 RNA had been isolated from clinical samples collected in Kyrgyzstan. DNA copy of subgenomic virus RNA had been cloned and used for further development of E.coli strains producing full-size recombinant protein ORF3 fused to E.coli beta-galactosidase. Codons optimization method was used in aim to increase expression level of recombinant protein. Recombinant protein ORF3 had been isolated from the inclusion bodies of the E.coli biomass and purified by size exclusion chromatography. Antigenic specificity of recombinant polypeptide had been confirmed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blotting with the specific sera. Conclusion. HEVgenotype 1 ORF3 recombinant antigen had been designed, and it’s applicability in diagnostic tests had been experimentally confirmed.


Author(s):  
X. J. Meng

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a small, non-enveloped, single-strand, positive-sense RNA virus of approximately 7.2 kb in size. HEV is classified in the family Hepeviridae consisting of four recognized major genotypes that infect humans and other animals. Genotypes 1 and 2 HEV are restricted to humans and often associated with large outbreaks and epidemics in developing countries with poor sanitation conditions, whereas genotypes 3 and 4 HEV infect humans, pigs and other animal species and are responsible for sporadic cases of hepatitis E in both developing and industrialized countries. The avian HEV associated with Hepatitis-Splenomegaly syndrome in chickens is genetically and antigenically related to mammalian HEV, and likely represents a new genus in the family. There exist three open reading frames in HEV genome: ORF1 encodes non-structural proteins, ORF2 encodes the capsid protein, and the ORF3 encodes a small phosphoprotein. ORF2 and ORF3 are translated from a single bicistronic mRNA, and overlap each other but neither overlaps ORF1. Due to the lack of an efficient cell culture system and a practical animal model for HEV, the mechanisms of HEV replication and pathogenesis are poorly understood. The recent identification and characterization of animal strains of HEV from pigs and chickens and the demonstrated ability of cross-species infection by these animal strains raise potential public health concerns for zoonotic HEV transmission. It has been shown that the genotypes 3 and 4 HEV strains from pigs can infect humans, and vice versa. Accumulating evidence indicated that hepatitis E is a zoonotic disease, and swine and perhaps other animal species are reservoirs for HEV. A vaccine against HEV is not yet available.


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