[An investigation on hepatitis E virus infection status among livestock in Xi'an area].
OBJECTIVE
To explore the carrier state of hepatitis E virus(HEV) in livestock in Xi'an area.


METHODS
Bile samples from swine, canine, sheep and cow were collected from a local slaughtering house. Reverse transcriptase nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-nPCR) was employed to amplify the ORF2 region in HEV RNA genome. All positive samples were sequenced and compared with data from GenBank. Homology analysis was conducted based on the outcome of sequencing.


RESULTS
194, 178, 79 and 191 bile samples from swine, canine, cow and sheep were collected. Positive rates with RT-nPCR method in these domestic animals were 4.10%, 0%, 0% and 0% respectively. Genetic distance analysis indicated that strains being identified were close to genotype IV of HEV, then genotype I, II and III in nucleic acid. Same outcome was shown by the same analysis on amino acid.


CONCLUSIONS
Swine was the only reservoir of HEV in livestock and genotype IV was the prevalent genotype.
Shao
Zhong-Jun
ZJ
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
Zheng
Ying-Jie
YJ
Zhang
Jing-Xia
JX
Xiong
Cheng-Long
CL
Lu
Yi-Han
YH
Ma
Wen-Tao
WT
Xu
De-Zhong
DZ
Jiang
Qing-Wu
QW
D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000821:virology*; D002417:Cattle; D002681:China; D004285:Dogs; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012756:Sheep; D013552:Swine
D012367:RNA, Viral