title: Ferret hepatitis E virus infection in Japan.
abstract: We examined 85 fecal samples from pet ferrets in 10 animal hospitals in Japan for the detection of ferret hepatitis E virus (HEV) RNA. We found that 6 (7.1%) of the samples were positive for ferret HEV RNA. Phylogenetic analysis based on the partial ORF1 indicated that these ferret HEV strains were clearly separated from the Netherlands strains and were divided into 2 distinct clusters. These results suggest that ferret HEV is genetically diverse, and since ferrets are not indigenous to Japan, ferret HEV has been introduced into Japan through importation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
authors.forename: Tian-Cheng
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Kenzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yonemitsu
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Terada
authors.forename: Naokazu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Wakita
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Takaji
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maeda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D005289:Ferrets; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006762:Hospitals, Animal; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral