Abstract
The main animal reservoirs of zoonotic hepatitis E virus (HEV) are domestic pigs and wild boars, but HEV also infects cervids. In this study, we estimated the prevalence of HEV in Finnish cervid species that are commonly hunted for human consumption. We investigated sera from 342 European moose (Alces alces), 70 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and 12 European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). The samples had been collected from legally hunted animals from different districts of Finland during 2008–2009. We analysed the samples for total anti-HEV antibodies using a double-sandwich ELISA assay. Seropositive sera were analysed with RT-qPCR for HEV RNA. HEV seroprevalence was 9.1% (31/342) in moose and 1.4% (1/70) in white-tailed deer. None of the European roe deer were HEV seropositive (0/12). No HEV RNA was detected from samples of seropositive animals. HEV seropositive moose were detected in all districts. Statistically, HEV seroprevalence in moose was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the North-East area compared to the South-West area. The highest HEV seroprevalence (20.0%) in district level was more than six times higher than the lowest (3.1%). We demonstrated the presence of total anti-HEV antibodies in European moose and white-tailed deer in Finland. Our results suggest that HEV is circulating among the moose population. Infections may occur also in white-tailed deer. We were the first to report a HEV seropositive white-tailed deer from Europe. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the HEV genotypes in cervids in Finland and to evaluate the importance of the findings in relation to food safety.
Highlights
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus that is classified in the family of Hepeviridae, genus of Orthohepevirus, and species of Orthohepevirus A (Smith et al 2014)
HEV-4 is mostly restricted to Asia and Europe, while HEV-7 has been found in dromedaries in the Greater Middle East (Forni et al 2018)
Higher HEV seroprevalence was detected in the North-East area (12.4%, confidence intervals (CI) 8.5–17.7%) compared to the South-West area (4.7%, CI 2.3–9.4%; p = 0.021, φ = − 0.132)
Summary
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus that is classified in the family of Hepeviridae, genus of Orthohepevirus, and species of Orthohepevirus A (Smith et al 2014). Eight genotypes (HEV-1–HEV-8) are recognised and five of them can infect humans (Smith et al 2014; Sridhar et al 2017). HEV-1 and HEV-2 are human specific and endemic mainly in tropical and subtropical regions (Forni et al 2018). HEV-3, HEV-4, and HEV-7 are zoonotic (Sridhar et al 2017). HEV-3 occurs worldwide (Forni et al 2018), and it is the most important zoonotic genotype in Europe (EFSA 2017). HEV-4 is mostly restricted to Asia and Europe, while HEV-7 has been found in dromedaries in the Greater Middle East (Forni et al 2018). The main animal reservoirs of HEV-3 and HEV-4 are domestic pigs and wild boars, but both genotypes can infect numerous other animals, including cervids (Kenney 2019)
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