Autochthonous hepatitis E virus (HEV) strains have been described infecting populations of industrialized countries, previously considered as non-endemic areas. The HEV strains circulating in one of those areas in south-western Europe (Barcelona, Spain) have been studied by analysing amplicons obtained from HEV genomes identified in wastewater, biosolids and sludge. Six sewage and two biosolid ...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a zoonotic pathogen of which several species of animal were reported as reservoirs. Swine stands out as the major reservoir for HEV infection in humans, as suggested by the close genetic relationship of swine and human viruses. In a previous study, we sequenced the complete genome of a human genotype 4 HEV strain (HM439284) that is prevalent in Jiangsu Province, China...

The role of rodents in the epidemiology of zoonotic hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection has been a subject of considerable debate. Seroprevalence studies suggest widespread HEV infection in commensal Rattus spp. rats, but experimental transmission has been largely unsuccessful and recovery of zoonotic genotype 3 HEV RNA from wild Rattus spp. rats has never been confirmed. We surveyed R. rattus an...

BACKGROUND The hepatitis E virus (HEV) has been detected in both humans and animals, particularly pigs, worldwide. Several evidences, including human infection following consumption of raw contaminated meat, suggest a zoonotic transmission of HEV. In Italy, large circulation of genotype 3 HEV has been reported in swine, and recent studies have confirmed the involvement of this genotype in autoc...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an enterically transmitted hepatropic virus. It segregates as four genotypes. All genotypes infect humans while only genotypes 3 and 4 also infect several animal species. It has been suggested that hepatitis E is zoonotic, but no study has analyzed the evolutionary history of HEV. We present here an analysis of the evolutionary history of HEV. METHODS AND...

Recent studies have reported and provided nucleotide sequence data from divergent isolates of hepatitis E virus (HEV), including isolates from North America and Africa. Sera were investigated from 29 Chinese patients with a diagnosis of acute hepatitis and who were negative for hepatitis viruses A-E by serology (HEV was excluded by testing for IgG antibody only). To determine whether some patie...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Hepatitis E is the main cause of enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis in developing countries. In the developed countries such as the USA, Japan and Taiwan, the viruses infecting humans and swine share the same genotype with a high sequence similarity. Genotype 1 circulates in humans whereas genotype 4 in pigs in India. The present study was designed to investi...

Genotype 3 hepatitis E viruses (HEVs) are distributed across the world and are now considered to be an emerging public health concern in industrialized countries. At least 10 genotype 3 subtypes have been identified in humans and animals worldwide. It was recently reported that the sensitivities of HEV RNA assays differ greatly. We have assessed the influence of genotype 3 diversity on the perf...

Autochthonous hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection has been increasingly reported in Europe and the United States, mostly arising from genotype 3 and less frequently genotype 4. We report here on a patient with HEV genotype 3a infection complicated by Guillain-Barré syndrome in Portugal in December 2012. We draw attention to the diagnosis of autochthonous HEV infection and to its rare, but importa...

Hepatitis E virus infection is an endemic disease in developing and industrialized countries (1),and is responsible for acute and chronic hepatitis. Genotype 1 is more prevalent in developing countries, whereas genotype 3 is more common in developed countries (1). Chronic genotype 3 HEV infection can occur in solid-organ transplant patients (2), hematological patients who receive chemotherapy (...