Han Sang-Hoon, Park Byung-Joo, Ahn Hee-Seop, Kim Yong-Hyun, Go Hyeon-Jeong, Kim Dong-Hwi, Lee Joong-Bok, Park Seung-Yong, Song Chang-Seon, Lee Sang-Won, Choi In-Soo
Department of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05029, South Korea.
Virus Genes. 2018 Aug;54(4):587-590. doi: 10.1007/s11262-018-1562-3. Epub 2018 Apr 24.
Rabbits are considered a new natural reservoir of hepatitis E virus (HEV). In this study, HEV infection was verified by the detection of partial genomic sequence of HEV and anti-HEV antibodies in specific pathogen-free (SPF) rabbits. HEV RNA was found in 6.4% serum and 13.5% fecal samples from 126 SPF rabbits. Anti-HEV antibodies were also detected in 4.0% of the SPF rabbits. HEV genetic sequences isolated from the rabbits were clustered into a rabbit HEV clade with other rabbit HEV isolates; they were found to be most closely related with a rabbit HEV sequence previously reported in Korea. Therefore, HEV infection should be diagnosed before conducting experiments involving SPF rabbits.
兔子被认为是戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）的一种新的天然宿主。在本研究中，通过检测无特定病原体（SPF）兔的HEV部分基因组序列和抗HEV抗体，证实了HEV感染。在126只SPF兔的血清样本中，6.4%检测到HEV RNA，粪便样本中13.5%检测到HEV RNA。在4.0%的SPF兔中也检测到抗HEV抗体。从兔子中分离出的HEV基因序列与其他兔HEV分离株聚为兔HEV进化枝；发现它们与韩国先前报道的兔HEV序列关系最为密切。因此，在进行涉及SPF兔的实验之前，应诊断HEV感染情况。
