title: [An investigation on hepatitis E virus infection status among livestock in Xi'an area].
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Zhong-Jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Ying-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Jing-Xia
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Cheng-Long
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Yi-Han
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Wen-Tao
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: De-Zhong
authors.initials: DZ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Qing-Wu
authors.initials: QW
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral