Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis E virus in humans, pigs and wild boars in Sweden

Abstract

Hepatitis E infections in humans are usually acquired in endemic countries in Asia or Africa. In Sweden 17 cases infected in Europe, between 1993 and 2009, were identified. All had clinical hepatitis E with unknown source of infection. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) was identified in faecal samples from 63 piglets in 12 pig farms in Sweden. HEV was also identified in blood from 13 out of 159 investigated Swedish wild boars from nine counties. Partial HEV genomes from humans, pigs and wild boars were sequenced and compared by phylogeny. The results showed close relatedness between HEY strains from piglets from the same farm and from wild boars from the same county. HEV strains from humans showed relatedness with strains from pigs and wild boars from the same county. This study showed that HEY strains form geographical clusters in the phylogenetic tree. The methods used in this study may thus be used for tracing the origin of an infecting strain. Furthermore, this study indicated that there are endemic sources of human HEY infections in Sweden.

Keywords

Hepatitis E; virology; zoonoses

Published in

Epidemiology and Infection
2011, Volume: 139, number: 3, pages: 361-371 Publisher: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS

SLU Authors

• Widén, Frederik

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Matyi Toth, Anna

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Metreveli, Giorgi

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Belak, Sandor

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG3 Good health and well-being


UKÄ Subject classification

Infectious Medicine
Pathobiology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268810001342

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/47186