First report of serological evidence of hepatitis E virus infection in swine in northern Greece

Abstract

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is responsible for large epidemics of acute hepatitis and sporadic cases in developing countries. Nowadays, there is an implication of viral transmission from pigs to humans assuming that hepatitis E might be a zoonosis, while swine is considered as a reservoir of HEV. The results of the present study have shown that all the tested swine farms from Northern Greece were positive for anti-HEV IgG (the percentage of positive anti-HEV IgG samples in tested farms ranged between 67 to 90%). Moreover, 80% of the tested serum samples from healthy pigs aged 5-6 months were found positive. Additionally, a low rate of anti-HEV antibodies against ORF3 peptide in pigs aged 5-6 months was revealed. Consequently, it seems that the HEV infection is relented in older pigs and that after the age of 5-6 months pigs are less hazardous as far as human infection is considered.