title: HEV infection in swine from Eastern Brazilian Amazon: evidence of co-infection by different subtypes.
abstract: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a fecal-orally transmitted member of the genus Hepevirus that causes acute hepatitis in humans and is widely distributed throughout the world. Pigs have been reported as the main source of genotypes 3 and 4 infection to humans in non-endemic areas. To investigate HEV infection in pigs from different regions of Pará state (Eastern Brazilian Amazon), we performed serological and molecular analyses of serum, fecal and liver samples from 151 adult pigs slaughtered between April and October 2010 in slaughterhouses in the metropolitan region of Belém, Pará. Among the animals tested, 8.6% (13/151) were positive for anti-HEV IgG but not for anti-HEV IgM. HEV RNA was detected in 4.8% (22/453) of the samples analyzed and 9.9% (15/151) of the animals had at least one positive sample. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all sequences belonged to genotype 3 that were related to human isolates from other non-endemic regions, suggesting that the isolates had zoonotic potential. Subtypes 3c and 3f were simultaneously detected in some pigs, suggesting co-infection by more than one strain and/or the presence of a recombinant virus. These results constitute the first molecular and serologic evidence of swine HEV circulation in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon.
authors.affiliation: Seção de Hepatologia, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Av. Almirante Barroso, 492, 66093-020 Belém, PA, Brazil. souzajralex@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Alex Junior Souza
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.forename: Michele Soares
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Gomes-Gouvêa
authors.forename: Manoel do Carmo Pereira
authors.initials: Mdo C
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.forename: João Renato Rebello
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Pinho
authors.forename: Andreza Pinheiro
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Malheiros
authors.forename: Liliane Almeida
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Carneiro
authors.forename: Debora Regina Lopes
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.forename: Washington Luiz Assunção
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Pereira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D001483:Base Sequence; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D060085:Coinfection / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D013552:Swine / Q000821:virology*; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral