Serological evidence for swine hepatitis E virus infection in Australian pig herds.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an enterically transmitted human pathogen, with some similarities to caliciviruses. A variant of HEV was recently identified in pigs in the USA, infecting almost 100% of animals in commercial herds. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that this is a true 'swine HEV' distinct from the human virus, but the swine virus may also infect man. Using an in-house ELISA based on a highly conserved, recombinant HEV protein, we have examined collections of sera from Australian pigs for evidence of HEV infection in local pig herds. Sera from one research herd (n = 32) were uniformly non-reactive, and this was used to establish an assay cut-off (= mean + 3 SD of reference pig serum reactivities). Screening of sera from other herds demonstrates that swine HEV is present in Australia, with reactivity observed in 30% (12/40) of random samples from two piggeries, 92-95% of pigs by the age of 16 weeks in two other piggeries (n = 45), and 17% (15/59) of wild-caught pigs. Further studies are required to examine whether HEV causes disease in pigs and to determine the risk of swine HEV transmission to man.
Chandler
J D
JD
Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research, Fairfield, Vic., Australia.
Riddell
M A
MA
Li
F
F
Love
R J
RJ
Anderson
D A
DA
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015153:Blotting, Western / Q000662:veterinary; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel / Q000662:veterinary; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies