Abstract
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is rarely reported in industrialized countries, but recent studies have revealed quite variable seroprevalence rates among European populations, including blood donors. In Serbia, very limited data about HEV seroprevalence are available. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of anti-HEV IgG antibodies and HEV RNA in the sera of volunteer blood donors in Serbia. Serum samples from 200 volunteer blood donors were tested for the presence of anti-HEV IgG by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using ORF-2 HEV genotype 3 recombinant proteins as antigen, and for the presence of HEV RNA by nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In total, 15% of the volunteer blood donors were seropositive. The prevalence increased with age; 21.5%, 14.2%, and 5.4% HEV seroprevalence rates were found in individuals older than 51 years, between 31 and 50 years, and in those younger than 30 years of age, respectively. However, no HEV RNA was detected in any of the individuals analyzed. The prevalence of anti-HEV IgG among blood donors as representatives of the general population is quite high in Serbia compared to data from many European countries. One of the reasons for this could be the high prevalence of HEV among Serbian pigs and the traditional consumption of piglet meat in the country. The relatively high HEV seroprevalence found among Serbian blood donors indicates the need for further investigation.
Highlights
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is rarely reported in industrialized countries, but recent studies have revealed quite variable seroprevalence rates among European populations, including blood donors
Even though we found in our study from 2008 that 30%–45% of the tested stool and tissue samples from commercial farm pigs in Serbia were positive for HEV RNA by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and that more than 34% of the backyard pigs’ sera tested were antiHEV IgG positive [18], indicating that HEV infection is widespread in Serbian pigs, very limited data about HEV seroprevalence in Serbian human populations or in surrounding countries of the former Republic of Yugoslavia are available
In seven cases in which the P/N values were around the cut-off value, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) results were confirmed by western blot
Summary
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is rarely reported in industrialized countries, but recent studies have revealed quite variable seroprevalence rates among European populations, including blood donors. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of anti-HEV IgG antibodies and HEV RNA in the sera of volunteer blood donors in Serbia. Conclusions: The prevalence of anti-HEV IgG among blood donors as representatives of the general population is quite high in Serbia compared to data from many European countries. The relatively high HEV seroprevalence found among Serbian blood donors indicates the need for further investigation. In contrast to the usually waterborne HEV infection in endemic developing countries, in developed countries, sporadic hepatitis E is mainly a zoonotic and foodborne disease [1,5]. HEV genotype 3 is widely distributed and is the cause of sporadic cases worldwide, as well as of most infections in Europe and the USA, where an increasing frequency of sporadic cases is being described and where HEV is considered to be an emerging pathogen [2,3,4,6]
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