title: Hepatitis A and E Viruses in Wastewaters, in River Waters, and in Bivalve Molluscs in Italy.
abstract: Several studies have reported the detection of hepatitis A (HAV) and E (HEV) virus in sewage waters, indicating a possibility of contamination of aquatic environments. The objective of the present study was to assess the occurrence of HAV and HEV in different water environments, following the route of contamination from raw sewage through treated effluent to the surface waters receiving wastewater discharges . Bivalve molluscan shellfish samples were also analyzed, as sentinel of marine pollution. Samples were tested by RT-PCR nested type in the VP1/2A junction for HAV, and in the ORF1 and ORF2 regions for HEV. Hepatitis A RNA was detected in 12 water samples: 7/21 (33.3%) raw sewage samples, 3/21 (14.3%) treated sewage samples, and 2/27 (7.4%) river water samples. Five sequences were classified as genotype IA, while the remaining 7 sequences belonged to genotype IB. In bivalves, HAV was detected in 13/56 samples (23.2%), 12 genotype IB and one genotype IA. Whether the presence of HAV in the matrices tested indicates the potential for waterborne and foodborne transmission is unknown, since infectivity of the virus was not demonstrated. HEV was detected in one raw sewage sample and in one river sample, both belonging to genotype 3. Sequences were similar to sequences detected previously in Italy in patients with autochthonous HEV (no travel history) and in animals (swine). To our knowledge, this is the first detection of HEV in river waters in Italy, suggesting that surface water can be a potential source for exposure .
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Primary Prevention, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iaconelli
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia A. Mirri, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Purpari
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Primary Prevention, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Della Libera
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Primary Prevention, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petricca
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia A. Mirri, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guercio
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Ciccaglione
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bruni
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taffon
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Equestre
authors.affiliation: German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fratini
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Primary Prevention, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muscillo
authors.affiliation: Department of Environment and Primary Prevention, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy. giuseppina.larosa@iss.it.
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: La Rosa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017756:Aquaculture; D049872:Bivalvia / Q000821:virology*; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005506:Food Contamination; D005513:Food Inspection; D030041:Hepatitis A virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007558:Italy; D058889:Molecular Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D045483:Rivers / Q000821:virology*; D012758:Shellfish / Q000191:economics / Q000821:virology; D062065:Wastewater / Q000821:virology*; D014876:Water Pollution
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Hepatitis A; Hepatitis E; Molluscs; PCR genotyping; Rivers; Sewages