Dynamic of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) Shedding in Pigs

Genotype 3 of hepatitis E virus (HEV-3) is the most common in Europe in both humans and pigs. HEV-3 strains are zoonotic, and foodborne cases associated with consumption of raw and undercooked pork products, mainly liver sausages, have been described. HEV-3 circulates largely in European pig farms,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animals (Basel) 2022-04, Vol.12 (9), p.1063
Main Authors: Ianiro, Giovanni, Monini, Marina, De Sabato, Luca, Chelli, Eleonora, Cerini, Natalino, Ostanello, Fabio, Di Bartolo, Ilaria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abattoirs
Age
Animals
fatteners
Feces
Food contamination
foodborne
Genomes
Genotypes
Hepatitis
HEV
Hogs
Infections
Liver
Oral administration
pigs
Pork
Process controls
Risk
Risk reduction
Sausages
Slaughter
Swine
Viruses
Zoonoses
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Summary:Genotype 3 of hepatitis E virus (HEV-3) is the most common in Europe in both humans and pigs. HEV-3 strains are zoonotic, and foodborne cases associated with consumption of raw and undercooked pork products, mainly liver sausages, have been described. HEV-3 circulates largely in European pig farms, maybe due to its long persistence in the environment. Animals get infected around 3-4 months of age; shortly after, the infection starts to decline up to the age of slaughtering (8-9 months of age in Italy). With the purpose to understand the duration in farmed pigs of the shedding of the virus and its quantity, HEV-RNA detection was performed by Real-time RT-PCR from feces collected individually from two groups of 23 pigs. Sampling was conducted for 4 months shortly before slaughtering age. At 4-months-old, all animals were shedding HEV-3 to high load around 10 genome copies per gram (GC/g). Prevalence was higher in growers than in fatteners, with most of the pigs still positive around 166 days of age. Beyond some difference among individual pigs, the amount of HEV in feces decreased with the age of animals. The longest fattening period should ensure a lower risk of HEV shedder animals at slaughter, reducing the risk of food contamination.
ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani12091063