Age-related and regional differences in the prevalence of hepatitis E virus-specific antibodies in pigs in Germany

• Published in: Veterinary microbiology 2013-12, Vol.167 (3-4), p.394-402
• Main Authors: Krumbholz, Andi, Joel, Sebastian, Neubert, Anne, Dremsek, Paul, Dürrwald, Ralf, Johne, Reimar, Hlinak, Andreas, Walther, Mario, Lange, Jeannette, Wutzler, Peter, Sauerbrei, Andreas, Ulrich, Rainer G., Zell, Roland
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age Factors; Age-dependency; Animals; antibodies; antigens; deer; developed countries; Domestic pig; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; genotype; Geography; Germany; Germany - epidemiology; Hepatitis Antibodies - blood; hepatitis E; Hepatitis E - epidemiology; Hepatitis E - veterinary; Hepatitis E virus; Hepatitis E virus - physiology; herds; HEV; humans; IgG; immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulin G - blood; rats; Regional variations; Seroepidemiologic Studies; Serologic Tests - standards; Serologic Tests - veterinary; seroprevalence; sows; Sus scrofa - virology; Swine; Swine Diseases - epidemiology; virus transmission; wild boars
• ISSN: 0378-1135; 1873-2542
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2013.10.001

An increasing number of acute autochthonous human hepatitis E virus (HEV)-infections was noticed in Germany and other developed countries, most likely the result of a zoonotic virus transmission from pig, wild boar and deer. Currently there is still a lack of profound data concerning the actual prevalence of HEV-specific antibodies in domestic pig herds in Germany, in particular for regions with high pig density, and its age-dependency. 2273 domestic pig sera were collected in 2011 mainly from Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony from areas having a high pig density. Initially, 420 randomly selected pig sera were tested in three commercially available and in two in-house HEV-antibody ELISAs. 43.6% (183/420) to 65.5% (275/420) of the sera were demonstrated to be reactive against human pathogenic HEV genotypes 1 and/or 3. The majority of sera reacted only weakly or not at all with the rat HEV antigen with very few sera showing a stronger reactivity to this antigen compared to the genotype 3 antigen. The results of all three HEV-IgG tests, i.e. the PrioCHECK® HEV Ab porcine ELISA kit, the ID Screen® Hepatitis E Indirect Multi-species ELISA kit and the genotype 3 in-house ELISA were in good accordance. Therefore, the remaining sera were tested using the PrioCHECK® HEV Ab porcine ELISA kit. Samples with a borderline result were finally determined by application of the conjugate-modified recomLine HEV IgG assay. A total of 1065 of the 2273 sera (46.9%) were found to be anti-HEV IgG-positive. While 38.4% (306/796) of fatteners (age between 3 and 9 months) exhibited HEV-specific antibodies, 51.4% (759/1477) of sows (age older than 9 months) exhibited anti-HEV antibodies (P