Hepatitis E virus infection among animals and humans in Xinjiang, China: possibility of swine to human transmission of sporadic hepatitis E in an endemic area.

Abstract

Hepatitis E is a worldwide public health problem, especially in areas with poor sanitation. This study examines the potential hepatitis E virus (HEV) animal reservoirs and the current status of HEV infection among animals and humans in an endemic area of Xinjiang, China. One thousand five hundred twenty-one serum samples from 12 different animal species and 296 sera from humans were detected for anti-HEV with an in-house enzyme immunoassay, and partial HEV RNA was amplified with a reverse transcription-nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-nPCR). All these distinct animal species, except jerboa and hoptoad, were positive for anti-HEV. However, HEV RNA was only amplified from pigs and a sporadic hepatitis E case in humans. The human HEV strain (CHN-XJ-HE29) shared 100% nucleotide identity with the swine HEV strain (CHN-XJ-SW50), both of which were collected from the same district; this indicates the possibility of HEV transmission from swine to humans in an endemic area.

• Authors: Hongwei Fu, Lingjun Li, Yonghong Zhu, Ling Wang, Jiabao Geng, Yibin Chang, Cheng Xue, Gang Du, Yaning Li, Hui Zhuang
• Journal: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene (Am J Trop Med Hyg) Vol. 82 Issue 5 Pg. 961-6 (May 2010) ISSN: 1476-1645 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 20439982 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Hepatitis Antibodies
• RNA, Viral

Topics

• Adult
• Animals
• Animals, Domestic
• Anura
• Disease Reservoirs
• Fishes
• Genotype
• Hepatitis Antibodies (blood)
• Hepatitis E (transmission, veterinary, virology)
• Hepatitis E virus (classification, genetics, immunology, isolation & purification)
• Humans
• Male
• Molecular Sequence Data
• Phylogeny
• RNA, Viral (blood)
• Rodentia
• Species Specificity
• Swine
• Swine Diseases (transmission, virology)
• Zoonoses