Vitral Cláudia L, Pinto Marcelo A, Lewis-Ximenez Lia L, Khudyakov Yuri E, dos Santos Débora R, Gaspar Ana Maria C
Departamento de Virologia, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Av. Brasil 4365, 21040-900 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2005 Apr;100(2):117-22. doi: 10.1590/s0074-02762005000200003.
Serological evidence of hepatitis E virus infection (HEV) has been observed in both humans and different animal species living in non-endemic areas, suggesting that animals could be important reservoir for virus transmission to man. Antibodies to HEV have been detected in some Brazilian population groups. Nevertheless, sporadic cases of acute HEV infection have never been reported. We collected 271 serum samples from several domestic animals and also from pig handlers from Southeast of Brazil in order to investigate the seroprevalence of HEV infection. Anti-HEV IgG was detected in cows (1.42%), dogs (6.97%), chickens (20%), swines (24.3%), and rodents (50%), as well as in pig handlers (6.3%). The recognition of swine HEV infections in pigs in many countries of the world led us to investigate a larger sample of pigs (n = 357) from the same Brazilian region with ages ranging from 1 to > 25 weeks. IgG anti-HEV was detected in 100% of 7-day old pigs. Following a gradual decline between weeks 2 and 8 (probably due to loss of maternal IgG), the prevalence then steady increased until it reached 97.3% of animals older than 25 weeks. Besides the detection of anti-HEV antibodies in different animal species, the results showed that swine HEV infection seems to be almost universal within this Brazilian pig population. This is the first report that shows evidences of HEV circulation in Brazilian animal species and pig handlers.
在生活于非戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）流行地区的人类和不同动物物种中均观察到了HEV感染的血清学证据，这表明动物可能是病毒传播给人类的重要宿主。在巴西的一些人群中检测到了抗HEV抗体。然而，从未报告过急性HEV感染的散发病例。我们从巴西东南部的几种家畜以及养猪工人那里收集了271份血清样本，以调查HEV感染的血清流行率。在奶牛（1.42%）、狗（6.97%）、鸡（20%）、猪（24.3%）、啮齿动物（50%）以及养猪工人（6.3%）中检测到了抗HEV IgG。世界上许多国家对猪群中猪HEV感染的认识促使我们对来自同一巴西地区、年龄从1周到超过25周的更大样本猪（n = 357）进行调查。在7日龄的仔猪中，100%检测到了IgG抗HEV。在第2周和第8周之间逐渐下降（可能是由于母源IgG的丧失）之后，流行率随后稳步上升，直到25周龄以上的动物中达到97.3%。除了在不同动物物种中检测到抗HEV抗体外，结果还表明猪HEV感染在这个巴西猪群中似乎几乎普遍存在。这是第一份显示HEV在巴西动物物种和养猪工人中传播证据的报告。
