title: Determination of fecal shedding rates and genotypes of swine hepatitis E virus (HEV) in Korea.
abstract: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection induces an acute hepatitis or a subclinical disease in humans. It is known that HEV is a zoonotic agent and pigs are major reservoirs of HEV. This study was conducted to determine the fecal shedding rates of HEV in various age groups of pigs and identify the genotypes of swine HEV prevailing in Korea. A total of 565 fecal samples were collected from suckling piglets, post-weaning pigs, growing pigs, and sows at 12 swine farms. RT-PCR was used to detect the presence of swine HEV in the feces. Every swine farm examined in this study had HEV-infected pigs. The fecal shedding rates of the swine HEV at individual farms were in the range of 2.1-35.4%. The overall fecal shedding rate of HEV in individual pigs was 17.5%. The HEV shedding rates of suckling piglets, post-weaning pigs, growing pigs and sows in their feces were 6.3, 16.3, 38.0 and 9.3%, respectively. When the genotypes of swine HEVs identified in this study were determined, they were all grouped into genotype 3. They were further subdivided into subtype 3a together with human and swine HEVs isolated in the U.S.A.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sung-Eun
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Mi-Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Do-Geun
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young-Jo
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Hyun-Jeong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Sang-Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Joong-Bok
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seung-Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Chang-Seon
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Soon-Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Han-Sang
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: In-Soo
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000818:Animals; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000235:genetics*; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D017201:Virus Shedding