Sporadic acute or fulminant hepatitis E in Hokkaido, Japan, may be food-borne, as suggested by the presence of hepatitis E virus in pig liver as food.
Among ten patients who contracted sporadic acute or fulminant hepatitis E between 2001 and 2002 in Hokkaido, Japan, nine (90 %) had a history of consuming grilled or undercooked pig liver 2-8 weeks before the disease onset. We tested packages of raw pig liver sold in grocery stores as food in Hokkaido for the presence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) RNA by RT-PCR. Pig liver specimens from seven (1.9 %) of 363 packages had detectable HEV RNA. Partial sequence analyses revealed that the seven swine HEV isolates belonged to genotype III or IV. One swine HEV isolate (swJL145) from a packaged pig liver had 100 % identity with the HE-JA18 isolate recovered from an 86-year-old patient in Hokkaido. Two swine HEV isolates (swJL234 and swJL325) had 98.5-100 % identity with the HE-JA4 isolate obtained from a 44-year-old patient in Hokkaido. These results indicate that inadequately cooked pig liver may transmit HEV to humans.
Yazaki
Yasuyuki
Y
Center for Gastroenterology, Kobayashi Hospital, Hokkaido 090-8567, Japan.
Mizuo
Hitoshi
H
Department of Internal Medicine, Kin-ikyo Chuo Hospital, Hokkaido 007-0870, Japan.
Takahashi
Masaharu
M
Immunology Division and Division of Molecular Virology, Jichi Medical School, Tochigi-Ken 329-0498, Japan.
Nishizawa
Tsutomu
T
Immunology Division and Division of Molecular Virology, Jichi Medical School, Tochigi-Ken 329-0498, Japan.
Sasaki
Nobuhiko
N
Department of Pediatrics, Jichi Medical School, Tochigi-Ken 329-0498, Japan.
Gotanda
Yuhko
Y
Japanese Red Cross Saitama Blood Center, Saitama-Ken 360-0806, Japan.
Okamoto
Hiroaki
H
Immunology Division and Division of Molecular Virology, Jichi Medical School, Tochigi-Ken 329-0498, Japan.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D003296:Cooking / Q000592:standards; D005516:Food Microbiology; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D013045:Species Specificity; D013552:Swine / Q000821:virology*
D012367:RNA, Viral