He Haijuan, Li Hai, Yan Lei, Wang Gang, Liu Yonggang, An Tongqing, Tu Yabin, Wang Shujie, Cai Xuehui
State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Science, Harbin 150069, China.
Institute of Animal Husbandry, Heilongjiang Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Harbin 150086, China.
Microorganisms. 2025 Aug 14;13(8):1899. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms13081899.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen capable of both human-to-human and animal-to-human transmission. However, limited data are available regarding HEV infections in pigs in Heilongjiang Province, China. To investigate the prevalence of HEV in pigs in this region, liver samples from diseased or deceased pigs and fecal samples from healthy pigs were collected and analyzed. A total of 82 liver samples and 86 fecal samples were obtained from 13 farms and tested for HEV genotypes 3 and 4 using nested RT-PCR assays targeting the gene. Samples with high viral loads were further subjected to direct sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Overall, 32 samples tested positive for HEV RNA and were classified as genotype 3 or 4, with genotype 4 being the most prevalent. The identified subtypes included 3a, 4a, and 4d, among which subtype 4d was the most common. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that swine HEV genotype 3 (subtype 3a) and genotype 4 (subtypes 4a and 4d) clustered closely with reference sequences 3a/AB089824/JA10, 4a/JX9974449/NJ6, and 4d/JX997439/NJ5. These strains exhibited close genetic similarity to human HEV isolates previously reported in Tokyo, Japan, and eastern China. These findings indicate that HEV genotypes 3 and 4 are distributed in pig farms across Heilongjiang Province and suggest that zoonotic transmission between pigs and humans is frequent in China.
戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）是一种新出现的人畜共患病原体，能够在人与人之间以及动物与人之间传播。然而，关于中国黑龙江省猪群中戊型肝炎病毒感染的数据有限。为了调查该地区猪群中戊型肝炎病毒的流行情况，收集并分析了患病或死亡猪的肝脏样本以及健康猪的粪便样本。从13个养殖场共采集了82份肝脏样本和86份粪便样本，使用针对 基因的巢式逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）检测方法对戊型肝炎病毒3型和4型进行检测。对病毒载量高的样本进一步进行直接测序和系统发育分析。总体而言，32份样本的戊型肝炎病毒核糖核酸（HEV RNA）检测呈阳性，被归类为3型或4型，其中4型最为普遍。鉴定出的亚型包括3a、4a和4d，其中4d亚型最为常见。系统发育分析表明，猪戊型肝炎病毒3型（3a亚型）和4型（4a和4d亚型）与参考序列3a/AB089824/JA10、4a/JX9974449/NJ6和4d/JX997439/NJ5紧密聚类。这些毒株与先前在日本东京和中国东部报道的人戊型肝炎病毒分离株具有密切的遗传相似性。这些发现表明，戊型肝炎病毒3型和4型分布于黑龙江省的各个猪场，提示在中国猪与人之间的人畜共患传播很常见。
