title: Detection of Hepatitis E Virus in Sewage After an Outbreak on a French Island.
abstract: A hepatitis E outbreak, which occurred on a small isolated island, provided an opportunity to evaluate the association between the number of hepatitis E cases in the community and the concentration of virus detected in sewage. Samples were collected from the different sewage treatment plants from the island and analyzed for the presence of hepatitis E (HEV) virus using real-time RT-PCR. We demonstrated that if 1-4 % of inhabitants connected to a WWTP were infected with HEV, raw sewage contained HEV at detectable levels. The finding that such a small number of infected people can contaminate municipal sewage works raises the potential of the further distribution of the virus. Indeed, investigating the routes of transmission of HEV, including the potential for sewage effluent to contain infectious HEV, may help us to better understand the epidemiology of this pathogen, which is considered to be an emerging concern in Europe.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Microbiologie, LSEM-SG2M, IFREMER, BP 21105, 44311, Nantes Cedex 03, France.|New Industry Creation Hatchery Center (NICHe), Tohoku University, 6-6-04 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-Ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.affiliation: National Reference Center for HEV, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lhomme
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Microbiologie, LSEM-SG2M, IFREMER, BP 21105, 44311, Nantes Cedex 03, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Claude
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Le Saux
authors.affiliation: SAUR, Direction générale Ouest, Vannes, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Le Mehaute
authors.affiliation: Regional Epidemiology Unit for the Brittany region, Institut de veille sanitaire, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Yvonnick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guillois
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Institut de Veille Sanitaire, Saint-Maurice, France.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Couturier
authors.affiliation: National Reference Center for HEV, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Izopet
authors.affiliation: National Reference Center for HEV, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abranavel
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Microbiologie, LSEM-SG2M, IFREMER, BP 21105, 44311, Nantes Cedex 03, France. sleguyad@ifremer.fr.
authors.forename: Françoise S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Le Guyader
mesh_terms: D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D062312:Islands / Q000453:epidemiology; D012722:Sewage / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage
keywords: Hepatitis E virus; Quantification; Wastewater treatment plant