Eiden Martin, Dähnert Lisa, Spoerel Susanne, Vina-Rodriguez Ariel, Schröder Ronald, Conraths Franz J, Groschup Martin H
Institute for Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany.
Tierarztpraxis Dr. Kindler, Wiesbaden, Germany.
Front Microbiol. 2020 Jan 31;11:115. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00115. eCollection 2020.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the main course for acute hepatitis in humans throughout the world. Human associated genotypes 1 and 2 as well as zoonotic genotypes 3 and 4 are grouped in the species . In addition, a large variety of HEV-related viruses has been found in vertebrates including carnivores, rats, bats, and chickens, which were classified in species . In 2015, partial genome sequences of a novel hepevirus were detected in feces of red foxes (). However, no further information about virus circulation and the prevalence in foxes was available. We therefore assayed a unique panel of 880 transudates, which was collected from red foxes over 19 years (1993-2012) in Brandenburg, Germany, for HEV-related viral RNA and antibodies. Our results demonstrate a high antibody prevalence of HEV in red foxes, which oscillated annually between 40 and 100%. Molecular screening of the transudates revealed only a single RNA-positive sample, which was assigned to the carnivore species based on the amplified partial sequence. These data indicate that the virus is circulating widely in the fox population and that foxes are carriers of this virus.
戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）是全球人类急性肝炎的主要病因。与人类相关的1型和2型基因型以及人畜共患的3型和4型基因型被归为该种。此外，在包括食肉动物、大鼠、蝙蝠和鸡在内的脊椎动物中发现了多种与HEV相关的病毒，它们被归类为其他种。2015年，在赤狐粪便中检测到一种新型肝炎病毒的部分基因组序列（）。然而，关于该病毒在狐狸中的传播和流行情况没有更多信息。因此，我们检测了一组独特的880份渗出液样本，这些样本是在19年（1993 - 2012年）间从德国勃兰登堡的赤狐身上采集的，用于检测与HEV相关的病毒RNA和抗体。我们的结果表明，赤狐中HEV抗体流行率很高，每年在40%至100%之间波动。对渗出液的分子筛查仅发现一个RNA阳性样本，根据扩增的部分序列，该样本被归为食肉动物种。这些数据表明该病毒在狐狸种群中广泛传播，狐狸是这种病毒的携带者。
