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Review
. 2016 Mar;17(1):1-11.
doi: 10.4142/jvs.2016.17.1.1. Epub 2016 Mar 22.

Hepatitis E virus as an emerging zoonotic pathogen

Woo-Jung Park  1 , Byung-Joo Park  1 , Hee-Seop Ahn  1 , Joong-Bok Lee  1 , Seung-Yong Park  1 , Chang-Seon Song  1 , Sang-Won Lee  1 , Han-Sang Yoo  2 , In-Soo Choi  1
Affiliations
Review

Hepatitis E virus as an emerging zoonotic pathogen

Woo-Jung Park et al. J Vet Sci. 2016 Mar.

Abstract

Hepatitis E outbreaks are a serious public health concern in developing countries. The disease causes acute infections, primarily in young adults. The mortality rate is approximately 2%; however, it can exceed 20% in pregnant women in some regions in India. The causative agent, hepatitis E virus (HEV), has been isolated from several animal species, including pigs. HEV genotypes 3 and 4 have been isolated from both humans and animals, and are recognized as zoonotic pathogens. Seroprevalence studies in animals and humans indirectly suggest that HEV infections occur worldwide. The virus is primarily transmitted to humans via undercooked animal meats in developed countries. Moreover, transfusion- and transplantation-mediated HEV infections have recently been reported. This review summarizes the general characteristics of hepatitis E, HEV infection status in animals and humans, the zoonotic transmission modes of HEV, and HEV vaccine development status.

Keywords: hepatitis E; hepatitis E virus; pig; transmission; zoonotic pathogen.

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Conflict of interest statement

There is no conflict of interest.

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