title: Zoonotic risk of hepatitis E virus (HEV): A study of HEV infection in animals and humans in suburbs of Beijing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection among different animals and workers in pig farms and slaughterhouses, and analyze the genotype of HEV isolated in this study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum samples were collected from adult swine, cows, sheep, younger swine (< 3 months), and workers in pig farms and slaughterhouses (professional group). Fecal samples were collected from younger swine in the south suburbs of Beijing. Anti-HEV antibody was evaluated by direct sandwich enzyme immunoassay. HEV RNA was extracted from fecal samples and amplified by nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-nPCR). The PCR products were sequenced, and the sequence homology and phylogenetics of the HEV strains isolated from swine were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The anti-HEV positivity rates in adult swine, cows, sheep, younger swine, professional group and general population were 98.23% (222/226), 29.35% (54/184), 9.80% (20/207), 60.73% (99/164), 42.51% (105/247) and 20.29% (522/2572), respectively. The HEV RNA positivity rate of fecal samples was 22.89% (19/83) and 16/19 samples were positive for HEV RNA amplified with both primers, HEV open reading frame (ORF)1 and HEV ORF2. Sequence analysis of these 16 samples showed that there were two groups, designated BJ-1 and BJ-2. The nucleotide homology of BJ-1 and BJ-2 was 99%. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that both of these groups belonged to genotype 4d.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Workers in pig farms and slaughterhouses were more likely to contract HEV infection than the general population because of close contact with swine with a high prevalence of anti-HEV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yibin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jiabao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.forename: Yonghong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Hongwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Furong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Lingjun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiaojuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhuang