Detection of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in Pigs and in the Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) Population of Chieti Province, Abruzzo Region, Italy

Abstract

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a zoonotic pathogen, causing infectious hepatitis in man. Pigs and wild boars are the natural asymptomatic reservoirs, while the disease in humans could be either asymptomatic or evolve in hepatitis. In Europe, an increasing number of human infections from HEV have been reported over the last few years. The main route of transmission is through contaminated food, by direct or indirect consumption of raw or undercooked pork and wild boar meat and meat products. Up to now, HEV prevalence in Italian northern regions has been extensively determined in wild boars and pigs, while less data have been collected from the southern ones. There is a need to report more data about HEV prevalence from wild boars and pigs in southern Italy in consideration of the potential risk posed by some specific traditional food products manufactured in these areas and produced from pig and wild boar livers (e.g., sausages and salami). The aim of this study was to demonstrate the circulation of the Hepatitis E virus (HEV) in pigs and in the wild boar population of the province of Chieti, Abruzzo Region, Central Italy. Moreover, potential HEV seroprevalence in hunters from that area was also assessed. The overall prevalence of HEV RNA in wild boars was 9.5% (CI 5.4–16.2%), but no HEV RNA was detected in samples from pigs.

Evidence of Circulation and Phylogenetic Analysis of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in Wild Boar in South-East Italy

“…The results of the present study confirm the presence of HEV in samples from wild boar hunted for domestic consumption in Apulia and Basilicata regions, even if a lower prevalence was found compared to other Italian areas. The prevalence of HEV in wild boar likely differs significantly among Italian regions due to the different types of samples collected, different sampling strategies, and the different sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic protocols [17,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. The prevalence of HEV RNA herein reported is similar to that from nearby regions of central Italy, as reported in Abruzzo (9.5%) [47], Lazio (12.1%) and Campania (7.5%) [39].…”

High Prevalence and Genetic Heterogeneity of Genotype 3 Hepatitis E Virus in Wild Boar in Umbria, Central Italy

“…This result is particularly significant, as it represents one of the highest prevalence values reported for HEV in wild boar, which, according to a recent systematic review and metaanalysis, range from 0% to 34% in Italy and from 0% to 56% worldwide, with an overall pooled prevalence of 8% [27]. Indeed, studies performed in the last 10 years in two nearby Italian regions, Lazio and Abruzzo, located southwest and southeast of Umbria region, respectively, displayed positivity rates of 16.3% and 9.5%, respectively [17,28]. Interestingly, specific districts-roughly corresponding to local municipalities-within the hunting areas provided positivity rates ranging from 0% to 80% (Table S1), highlighting the heterogeneity of viral distribution among wild boar herds.…”

Wild Boars (Sus scrofa, L. 1758) from Castile and Leon Region (Spain): A Histopathology Survey

“…In Europe, the prevalence of tuberculosis in wild boar ranges from 1 to 52%, being higher in the southern Iberian Peninsula due to artificially high densities of wild boar (more than 90 per square km) and consequent group aggregation near feeders and waterholes [ 7 ]. However, other European wild boar diseases are also a matter of concern, as hepatitis E, presenting a prevalence of 9.5% in an Italian region [ 8 ], and 40.8% in western Bulgaria [ 9 ]. The importance of wild boars as sentinel species goes far beyond zoonotic disease surveillance, since they may also be considered suitable indicators of pollutant exposure [ 10 ].…”