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. 2016 Sep;8(3):194-9.
doi: 10.1007/s12560-016-9241-9. Epub 2016 May 10.

Detection of Hepatitis E Virus in Sewage After an Outbreak on a French Island

Takayuki Miura  1   2 , Sébastien Lhomme  3 , Jean-Claude Le Saux  1 , Philippe Le Mehaute  4 , Yvonnick Guillois  5 , Elizabeth Couturier  6 , Jacques Izopet  3 , Florence Abranavel  3 , Françoise S Le Guyader  7
Affiliations

Detection of Hepatitis E Virus in Sewage After an Outbreak on a French Island

Takayuki Miura et al. Food Environ Virol. 2016 Sep.

Abstract

A hepatitis E outbreak, which occurred on a small isolated island, provided an opportunity to evaluate the association between the number of hepatitis E cases in the community and the concentration of virus detected in sewage. Samples were collected from the different sewage treatment plants from the island and analyzed for the presence of hepatitis E (HEV) virus using real-time RT-PCR. We demonstrated that if 1-4 % of inhabitants connected to a WWTP were infected with HEV, raw sewage contained HEV at detectable levels. The finding that such a small number of infected people can contaminate municipal sewage works raises the potential of the further distribution of the virus. Indeed, investigating the routes of transmission of HEV, including the potential for sewage effluent to contain infectious HEV, may help us to better understand the epidemiology of this pathogen, which is considered to be an emerging concern in Europe.

Keywords: Hepatitis E virus; Quantification; Wastewater treatment plant.

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