title: Hepatitis E virus genotype 3f in pigs in New Caledonia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is highly prevalent in farm pigs worldwide and an increasing body of data from industrialised countries suggests that it is an agent of a porcine zoonosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used in-house real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction to study HEV infection in 4-26-week-old pigs on a pig farm in New Caledonia, Oceania, for which no data are available.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HEV RNA was detected in faeces from 6 of 92 (6.5%) pigs tested and all were 9-16 weeks old. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the HEV open reading frame 1 and 2 sequences recovered in this study formed a single cluster among HEV genotype 3 subtype f.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our work shows for the first time that pigs are a reservoir for HEV in New Caledonia. Further studies are needed to assess the prevalence and phylogenetic relationships of HEV in pigs and humans in this French overseas collectivity.
authors: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes: URMITE UMR CNRS IRD, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Kaba
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Davoust
authors: O
authors: O
authors: Cabre
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Colson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000662:veterinary; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D009510:New Caledonia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology*; D015047:Zoonoses