title: Hepatitis E Virus in Sylvatic and Captive Wild Boar from Portugal.
abstract: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a zoonotic agent today considered a major Public Health issue in industrialized countries. HEV strains belonging to zoonotic genotype 3 are widely present in swine, being today considered important reservoirs for human disease. Unlike in swine, only scarce data are available on the circulation of HEV in wild boar. This study describes the detection and molecular characterization of HEV in livers from sylvatic wild boar hunted in Portugal and destined for consumption. Additionally, the detection of HEV in stools of a confined wild boar population also destined for consumption is also described. A total of 80 liver samples collected during the hunting season of 2011/2012 and 40 stools collected in February 2012 from a wild boar breeding farm in Portugal were tested by a nested broad-spectrum RT-PCR assay targeting open reading frame (ORF) 1. Twenty livers (25.0%) and 4 stools (10%) were positive for HEV. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all strains clustered with sequences classified as HEV genotype 3 subgenotype e. To our knowledge, this is the first report documenting the occurrence and molecular analysis of HEV in sylvatic and captive wild boar destined for human consumption in Portugal. This report demonstrates for the first time the circulation of HEV in wildlife reservoirs of Portugal adding knowledge to the epidemiology of HEV in wild boar populations.
authors.affiliation: Escola Superior Agrária de Viseu, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Viseu, Portugal.|CIBIO/UP, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Mesquita
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: R M S
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Escola Superior Agrária de Viseu, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Viseu, Portugal.|CIBIO/UP, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Coelho
authors.affiliation: Centro de Ciência Animal e Veterinária, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.|Departamento de Ciências Veterinárias, Escola de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vieira-Pinto
authors.affiliation: CIBIO/UP, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Vairão, Portugal.|Laboratório de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: M S J
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Nascimento
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000821:virology; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005838:Genotype; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology; D010802:Phylogeny; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D013552:Swine / Q000821:virology; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology
keywords: hepatitis E virus; wild boar; zoonotic