Hepatitis E virus in pork production chain in Czech Republic, Italy, and Spain, 2010

Abstract

We evaluated the prevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in the pork production chain in Czech Republic, Italy, and Spain during 2010. A total of 337 fecal, liver, and meat samples from animals at slaughterhouses were tested for HEV by real-time quantitative PCR. Overall, HEV was higher in Italy (53%) and Spain (39%) than in Czech Republic (7.5%). HEV was detected most frequently in feces in Italy (41%) and Spain (39%) and in liver (5%) and meat (2.5%) in Czech Republic. Of 313 sausages sampled at processing and point of sale, HEV was detected only in Spain (6%). HEV sequencing confirmed only g3 HEV strains. Indicator virus (porcine adenovirus) was ubiquitous in fecal samples and absent in liver samples and was detected in 1 slaughterhouse meat sample. At point of sale, we found porcine adenovirus in sausages (1%-2%). The possible dissemination of HEV and other fecal viruses through pork production demands containment measures.

Figure A1

Phylogenetic tree constructed with the Bionumerics version 6 software (Applied Maths, Kortrijk, Belgium) by the neighbor-joining method on the basis of partial nucleotide sequences of open reading frame 2, with avian hepatitis E virus as an outgroup (GenBank accession no. AY043166). Samples are from Italy and Spain, 2010. Bootstrap values of >60% are indicated. ● indicates sequences from Spain; ◉ indicates sequences from Italy. Subtypes of genotype 3 HEV strains are indicated. Scale bar indicates number of substitutions per site.