Abstract
Simple SummaryHepatitis E is now recognized as an emerging zoonotic disease in Europe caused by an RNA virus (HEV) and foodborne is the main route of transmission. Human cases have been linked to the consumption of contaminated pig liver sausages, raw venison, or undercooked wild boar meat. The zoonotic genotype HEV-3 is widespread in pigs at farm level but little information is available on the occurrence of HEV-positive pigs at the slaughterhouse. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of HEV-positive pigs during slaughtering, to understand which biological samples (feces and organs) were more frequently HEV positive. Our results showed that pigs positive for HEV can be slaughtered and that the percentage of positive animals depends on the age of animals. The other main result is the presence of the virus in the plasma of animals, which may contribute to the contamination of meat (muscle). Nevertheless, muscles are rarely contaminated by HEV-RNA compared to liver, which is the organ of replication.In Europe, foodborne transmission has been clearly associated to sporadic cases and small clusters of hepatitis E in humans linked to the consumption of contaminated pig liver sausages, raw venison, or undercooked wild boar meat. In Europe, zoonotic HEV-genotype 3 strains are widespread in pig farms but little information is available on the prevalence of HEV positive pigs at slaughterhouse. In the present study, the prevalence of HEV-RNA positive pigs was assessed on 585 animals from 4 abattoirs located across Italy. Twenty-one pigs (3.6%) tested positive for HEV in either feces or liver by real-time RT-PCR. In these 21 pigs, eight diaphragm muscles resulted positive for HEV-RNA. Among animals collected in one abattoir, 4 out of 91 plasma tested positive for HEV-RNA. ELISA tests for the detection of total antibodies against HEV showed a high seroprevalence (76.8%), confirming the frequent exposure of pigs to the virus. The phylogenetic analyses conducted on sequences of both ORF1 and ORF2 fragments, shows the circulation of HEV-3c and of a novel unclassified subtype. This study provides information on HEV occurrence in pigs at the slaughterhouse, confirming that muscles are rarely contaminated by HEV-RNA compared to liver, which is the most frequently positive for HEV.
Highlights
Hepatitis E is an acute disease affecting humans, which is widespread globally [1]
hepatitis E virus (HEV)-RNA detection was obtained in 12 animals in the liver (2.1%; 95%CI: 1.1–3.6) and 11 in the feces (1.9%; 95%CI: 1.0–3.4); among these, two animals were positive in both types of samples (0.35%; 95%CI: 0.0–1.3)
The results obtained in this study corroborated the wide circulation of the zoonotic HEV-3 in Italian pigs, revealed by the high percentage of detection of anti-HEV antibodies
Summary
Hepatitis E is an acute disease affecting humans, which is widespread globally [1]. The causative agent, hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a small virus with a single strand RNA genome, and strains belonging to the species Orthohepevirus A are responsible for hepatitis in humans [2]. While HEV-1 and HEV-2 only infect humans, HEV-3 and HEV-4 are considered zoonotic agents with domestic and wild pigs being the main reservoirs. In Europe, consumption of raw or undercooked HEV contaminated sausages containing pig liver and wild boar meat has been associated with the transmission of HEV to humans [8]. The involvement of such foodstuff was supported by both virological evidence (i.e., the detection of the same viral sequence in patients and leftovers food) and analytical epidemiology studies indicating that the consumption of foods containing pork liver were associated with an increased risk of either HEV-3 or HEV-4 infection [9]. This data clearly explains the importance of pork meat and products thereof for the food chain
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