Occurrence of Hepatitis E Virus in Pigs and Pork Cuts and Organs at the Time of Slaughter, Spain, 2017

Abstract

Zoonotic hepatitis E, mainly caused by hepatitis E virus (HEV) genotype (gt) 3, is a foodborne disease that has emerged in Europe in recent decades. The main animal reservoir for genotype 3 is domestic pigs. Pig liver and liver derivates are considered the major risk products, and studies focused on the presence of HEV in pig muscles are scarce. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the presence of HEV in different organs and tissues of 45 apparently healthy pigs from nine Spanish slaughterhouses (50% national production) that could enter into the food supply chain. Anti-HEV antibodies were evaluated in serum by an ELISA test. Ten samples from each animal were analyzed for the presence of HEV RNA by reverse transcription realtime PCR (RT-qPCR). The overall seroprevalence obtained was 73.3% (33/45). From the 450 samples analyzed, a total of 26 RT-qPCR positive samples were identified in the liver (7/45), feces (6/45), kidney (5/45), heart (4/45), serum (3/45), and diaphragm (1/45). This is the first report on detection of HEV RNA in kidney and heart samples of naturally infected pigs. HEV RNA detection was negative for rib, bacon, lean ham, and loin samples. These findings indicate that pig meat could be considered as a low risk material for foodborne HEV infection.

Liver Transudate, a Potential Alternative to Detect Anti-Hepatitis E Virus Antibodies in Pigs and Wild Boars (Sus scrofa)

“…Only 13 serum and four liver transudate samples out of 58 were RT-qPCR positive, and only three samples were RT-qPCR-positive for both matrices from the same animal. The presence of antibodies in serum and liver transudate was substantially higher than the presence of the virus detected by RT-qPCR in both matrices, in agreement with a previous study that found high seroprevalence 73.3% but the prevalence of only 15.6% in liver respectively based on PCR [52]. In the present study, all RT-qPCR-positive samples in both matrices were also positive by ELISA.…”

“…The obtained product was stored at −80 • C until RT-qPCR was performed. HEV viral genome was detected using a previously described RT-qPCR assay [52] with minor modifications and a CFX96™ Real-Time Thermocycler System (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Munich, Germany). RT-qPCR was performed using the QuantiFast Pathogen RT-PCR + IC kit (QIAGEN) in a 20-µL reaction volume containing 10 µL of RNA.…”

Hepatitis E virus genome detection in commercial pork livers and pork meat products in Germany

“…Although extrahepatic replication has been observed in experimental infections, [38][39][40][41][42] the detection of HEV in muscle is very rare. 41,[43][44][45][46] Pork products such as pork liver sausages and pork pâté are processed foods intended for consumption without further cooking, which are heated during food processing. Since HEV is a very stable virus, it must be inactivated by heating the products at 72°C for at least 20 minutes.…”

Hepatitis E Virus in Manure and Its Removal by Psychrophilic anaerobic Biodigestion in Intensive Production Farms, Santa Catarina, Brazil, 2018–2019

“…In the present study, high HEV loads (>6 log 10 HEV GC L −1 ) in swine raw manure of pig grow-finish farms were observed, representing a significant risk of contamination for the animals of the herd. Although HEV is more frequently detected in feces than serum and liver samples from infected animals [ 16 , 20 , 22 ], the foodborne hepatitis E risk through consumption of pig meat or derived products cannot be discounted.…”