Abstract
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is one of the most prevalent cause of acute hepatitis in humans worldwide. The risk of HEV transmission is not limited only to spread from human to human but the infection can also spread from animals to humans, especially from the domestic pigs. Despite mounting evidence regarding the zoonotic potential of porcine HEV infection, there are limited data on its prevalence in pigs in the sub-Sahara Africa region. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of HEV antibodies among pigs in two Cameroonian regions. A total of 162 sera were collected from slaughtered-age pigs from January to March 2012. To determine whether pigs might represent a HEV reservoir in the Northern and Western region in Cameroon, anti-HEV IgG and IgM were tested by ELISA using commercials available kits. Overall, 70 of the 162 samples (43.2%, 95% CI: 35.5% - 51.2%) were positive for at least one of the serological markers of HEV infection (IgM and / or IgG).We observed a significant seroprevalence of HEV antibodies between the northern and western regions (60% (42/70) and 40% (28/70), p = 0.01796) respectively. Overall, this study reports a high seroprevalence of Hepatitis E virus antibodies in slaughter pigs in Cameroon. Our findings suggest that pigs might be a cause of zoonotic HEV transmission in Cameroon. Therefore, further studies are warranted to establish the dynamics of zoonotic HEV and characterize the different genotypes circulating in humans and pigs.
Highlights
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is one of the most prevalent cause of acute hepatitis in humans worldwide
The risk of HEV transmission is not limited only to spread from human to human but the infection can spread from animals to humans, especially from the domestic pigs and wild boars, suggesting the zoonotic potencial of the virus [3]
In this study, we evaluate the seroprevalence of hepatitis E in slaughterage pigs in two regions of Cameroon
Summary
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is one of the most prevalent cause of acute hepatitis in humans worldwide. The risk of HEV transmission is not limited only to spread from human to human but the infection can spread from animals to humans, especially from the domestic pigs and wild boars, suggesting the zoonotic potencial of the virus [3]. Other sources of infection such as animal transmission cannot be excluded since genotype 3 responsible for the zoonotic transmission of HEV has already been reported in some African countries [12]. Seventy of the 162 samples (43.2%, 95% CI: 35.5% - 51.2%) were positive for at least one of the serological markers of HEV infection (IgM and / or IgG). Total N (%) 4 (2.5) 6 (3.7) 60 (37.0) 92 (56.8) 162 were 37% (60/162), 2.5% (4/162) and 3.7% (6/162), respectively Both regions had similar IgM and IgG positivity profile with higher frequency of recent infection. Ninety-two out of 162 samples (56.8%) had a negative result for both anti-HEV antibodies
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