Prevalence of hepatitis E virus antibodies in cattle in Burkina Faso associated with swine mixed farming

Abstract

Background Endemic circulation of human-specific hepatitis E virus (HEV) genotypes 1 and 2 may occult the importance of sporadic zoonotic HEV transmissions in Africa. Increasing numbers of studies reporting anti-HEV antibodies in cattle and the discovery of infectious HEV in cow milk has raised public health concern, but cattle exposure has seldom been investigated in Africa. Objectives This study aimed at investigating the role of cows in the epidemiology of HEV in Burkina Faso and farmers habits in terms of dairy product consumption as a prerequisite to estimate the risk of transmission to humans. Methods Sera from 475 cattle and 192 pigs were screened for the presence of anti-HEV antibodies while HEV RNA in swine stools was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Data on mixed farming, dairy product consumption and selling habits were gathered through questionnaires. Results The overall seroprevalence in cattle was 5.1% and herd seroprevalence reached 32.4% (11/34). Herd seropositivity was not associated with husbandry practice or presence of rabbits on the farms. However, herd seropositivity was associated with on-site presence of pigs, 80.7% of which had anti-HEV antibodies. The majority of farmers reported to preferentially consume raw milk based dairy products. Conclusions Concomitant presence of pigs on cattle farms constitutes a risk factor for HEV exposure of cattle. However, the risk of HEV infections associated with raw cow dairy product consumption is currently considered as low.

Frequency of HEV Antibodies in Pregnant Women and Its Association with Existent Risk Factors, Sudan: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Another study Burkina Faso showed that pigs that are associated with cattle make them more susceptible to contracting the virus [22]. No significant association was observed between age group of pregnant women in this study and IgG detection, similar study pointed at this [23], but different from those recorded in India by [24].…”

Current Knowledge of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) Epidemiology in Ruminants

“…In domestic ruminants, HEV prevalence appears to be higher in rural areas with traditional mixed farming systems consisting of family-based small-sized farms hosting pigs and other domestic animals—a favorable epidemiological picture that may foster inter-species interactions [ 26 , 31 , 49 , 58 , 60 ]. In a recent study in Burkina Faso [ 45 ], cattle seropositivity was significantly associated with the presence of pigs on the same farm, suggesting the role of swine as risk factors [ 45 ]. However, this is not always the case, since Geng et al [ 55 ] did not detect HEV in the faeces and milk of cows reared on mixed farms or neighboring farms with pigs in the Hebei province of China [ 55 ], nor in Belgium, where viral RNA was not detected in cow fecal and milk samples despite being collected on a mixed farm in which HEV infection of swine had been demonstrated [ 54 ].…”

“…In addition, Gt3 HEV strains were detected in cows and goats of Assiut Village, Egypt, where pig farms are not common; even in the area housing pig farms, mixing of pigs and cows is uncommon due to religious beliefs [ 44 , 63 ]. Accordingly, HEV transmission to domestic ruminants could be due to several factors, including husbandry practices, type and intensity of inter-species contacts as well as hygiene on the farms and handling/management of HEV-contaminated manure produced by different animal species [ 44 , 45 ]. In a survey performed in the Czech Republic [ 65 ], it was speculated that pastures contaminated by HEV-positive wild animals (wild boars, red deer, roe deer and mouflons) could be the source of infection for small ruminants in which HEV RNA was detected in raw milk samples [ 65 ].…”

“…Anti-HEV antibodies were detected in cows with prevalence rates of 29.0–62.0% in Somalia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, and of 12% in Ukraine [ 24 ]. Since then, several serosurveillance studies performed on cattle in Asia [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ], America [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ] and Africa [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ] have revealed prevalence rates ranging from 1.4% to 47.0% ( Table 1 ). Among domesticated wild bovids, seropositivity has also been reported in buffaloes in India [ 46 ] and in Egypt [ 40 ], with rates of 100.0% and 14.0%, respectively, and in 4.6% of bison ( Bison bison ) from the United States [ 38 ].…”

Hepatitis E Seroprevalence and Detection of Genotype 3 Strains in Domestic Pigs from Sierra Leone Collected in 2016 and 2017

“…Up to now, only a few epidemiological studies on HEV infections in pigs have been carried out in African countries. The first findings were reported from Democratic Republic of the Congo [ 14 ], Madagascar [ 11 ], Nigeria [ 15 ], Cameroon [ 16 , 17 , 18 ], South Africa [ 19 , 20 , 21 ], Burkina Faso [ 22 ], Zambia [ 23 ], Ethiopia [ 24 ], and Ghana [ 25 ]. This is the first study to test pig samples from Sierra Leone for the presence of HEV, providing new insights into the spread of the virus in the country’s pig population.…”