title: A nationwide survey of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection in wild boars in Japan: identification of boar HEV strains of genotypes 3 and 4 and unrecognized genotypes.
abstract: To investigate the nationwide prevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection and to characterize HEV genomes among Japanese wild boars (Sus scrofa leucomystax), 578 boars captured in 25 prefectures from 2003 to 2010 were studied. Anti-HEV IgG was detected in 8.1%, and HEV RNA in 3.3% of boars. Among the 19 boar HEV isolates obtained from infected boars, 14 isolates (74%) were classified as genotype 3, 4 isolates (21%) as genotype 4, and the remaining isolate (wbJOY_06) was distantly related to all known HEV isolates of genotypes 1-4, differing by 18.4-25.0% and 18.0-24.3% within the 412-nucleotide sequence of ORF1 and ORF2, respectively. A genotype 4 boar HEV isolate (wbJGF_08-1) obtained herein shared 98.6% identity over the entire genome with a human HEV isolate obtained from a patient who developed acute hepatitis after consuming undercooked wild boar meat, suggesting that wild boars are also reservoirs for genotype 4 HEV in humans.
authors.affiliation: Kamiichi General Hospital, Kamiichi, Toyama, 930-0391, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Naka
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furuya
authors.forename: Haruhisa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsukiji
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kitagawa
authors.forename: Yoshihide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sonoda
authors.forename: Takanobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Usui
authors.forename: Hirotsugu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Sumi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshino
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.lastname: Jirintai
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishizawa
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okamoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000662:veterinary; D005838:Genotype; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D034421:Sus scrofa
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral