Beikpour Farzad, Borghi Monica, Scoccia Eleonora, Vicenza Teresa, Valiani Andrea, Di Pasquale Simona, Bozza Silvia, Camilloni Barbara, Cozzi Loredana, Macellari Piero, Martella Vito, Suffredini Elisabetta, Farneti Silvana
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy.
Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
Transbound Emerg Dis. 2023 Jun 30;2023:3126419. doi: 10.1155/2023/3126419. eCollection 2023.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important human pathogen and, in developed countries, most human infections are due to a zoonotic cycle, mainly maintained by domestic and wild suids. In European countries several genotype 3 strains have been found to circulate in human population and animal reservoirs, with human infections being related mostly to pork or wild boar meat consumption. In this study, we surveyed HEV circulation in wild boar in Umbria (Italy) during the 2021-2022 hunting seasons, using a stratified sampling. Liver samples were tested for HEV presence by real-time RT-qPCR. Positive samples were characterized by nested RT-PCR followed by sequencing of partial region of the capsid gene. Overall, 78 out of 179 wild boar liver samples tested positive to HEV (43.6%), with viral load ranging between 1.47 and 7.35 log genome copies/g (median 3.20 log). Variations, although not statistically significant, were observed considering geographical, age, weight, and gender factors, in terms of either prevalence or viral load. In particular, in animals younger than 1 year of age, the viral load was 2 log higher (median viral load of 5.50 log genome copies/g of liver tissue) than in older age groups. Sequence analysis characterized the 41 obtained sequences into genotype 3 subtype 3c ( = 4), 3f ( = 11), and 3e ( = 1), while 13 sequences clustered with two genotype 3 genomes (GenBank MF959764 and MK390971) still unassigned to subtypes. Additional, 12 sequences did not cluster with any known subtype or unassigned genome and on phylogenetic analysis segregated into two distinct groups of eight and four sequences, respectively. Interestingly, some wild boar sequences of subtype 3f were intermingled with sequences of HEV strains previously identified in human patients in Central Italy. Sharing of molecular data for HEV in animals is pivotal to decipher the intricate ecology of HEV.
戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）是一种重要的人类病原体，在发达国家，大多数人类感染是由于人畜共患病循环，主要由家养和野生猪维持。在欧洲国家，已发现几种3型毒株在人类群体和动物宿主中传播，人类感染大多与食用猪肉或野猪肉有关。在本研究中，我们在2021 - 2022年狩猎季节期间，采用分层抽样方法对意大利翁布里亚地区野猪中的HEV传播情况进行了调查。通过实时RT - qPCR检测肝脏样本中是否存在HEV。对阳性样本进行巢式RT - PCR检测，随后对衣壳基因部分区域进行测序。总体而言，179份野猪肝脏样本中有78份HEV检测呈阳性（43.6%），病毒载量在1.47至7.35 log基因组拷贝/克之间（中位数为3.20 log）。考虑到地理、年龄、体重和性别因素，在患病率或病毒载量方面观察到了差异，尽管差异无统计学意义。特别是，1岁以下动物的病毒载量比老年组高2 log（肝脏组织中位数病毒载量为5.50 log基因组拷贝/克）。序列分析将获得的41个序列鉴定为3型3c亚型（= 4）、3f亚型（= 11）和3e亚型（= 1），而13个序列与两个仍未归类到亚型的3型基因组（GenBank MF959764和MK390971）聚类。此外，12个序列未与任何已知亚型或未归类基因组聚类，在系统发育分析中分别分为两个不同的组，每组分别有8个和4个序列。有趣的是，3f亚型的一些野猪序列与意大利中部先前在人类患者中鉴定出的HEV毒株序列混合在一起。共享动物中HEV的分子数据对于解读HEV复杂的生态学至关重要。
