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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #367758
Research Project: Detection and Control of Foodborne Parasites for Food Safety

Location: Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory

Title: Hepatitis E virus infection in market weight pigs from slaughterhouses, United States, 2017-2019

Author
item SOORYANARAIN, HARINI - Virginia Polytechnic Institution & State University
item C. LYNN, HEFFRON - Virginia Polytechnic Institution & State University
item HILL, DOLORES - Retired ARS Employee
item Fredericks, Jorrell
item Rosenthal, Benjamin
item STEPHEN, WERRE - Virginia Polytechnic Institution & State University
item TANJA, OPRIESSING - University Of Edinburgh
item XIANG-JING, MENG - Virginia Polytechnic Institution & State University

Submitted to: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/6/2020
Publication Date: 2/1/2020
Citation: Sooryanarain, H., C. Lynn, H., Hill, D., Fredericks, J.N., Rosenthal, B.M., Stephen, W., Tanja, O., Xiang-Jing, M. 2020. Hepatitis E virus infection in market weight pigs from slaughterhouses, United States, 2017-2019. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 26(2):354-357.

Interpretive Summary: Each year hepatitis E virus (HEV) causes an estimated 20 million human infection worldwide leading to approximately 3 million cases of hepatitis E and more than 44,000 HEV-related deaths. In addition to humans, HEV has also been genetically identified from more than a dozen other animal species including pigs. Foodborne HEV infection caused by zoonotic genotypes 3 and 4 HEVs from pigs is an emerging global public health concern. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of IgG anti-HEV and HEV RNA in market weight pigs from slaughterhouses in 10 different States. Results from this study indicate that a small percentage of market weight pigs from slaughterhouses are still viremic at the time of slaughter and thus posing a potential concern of pork safety

Technical Abstract: Hepatitis E virus (HEV), the causative agent of hepatitis E, has been genetically identified from humans and more than a dozen other animal species including pigs. Foodborne HEV infection caused by zoonotic genotypes 3 and 4 HEVs from pigs is an emerging global public health concern. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of IgG anti-HEV and HEV RNA in sera of 5,033 market weight pigs from 25 slaughterhouses in 10 different States. HEV RNA was detected in 6.32% (318/5033) of the sera, and HEV seroprevalence was 39.88% (2007/5033). Sequence and phylogenetic analyses revealed that the prevalent HEV genotype in slaughterhouse pigs in USA is the zoonotic genotype 3, belonging to subgenotype Gt3 group 2 (i.e Gt3abchij). The finding indicates that a proportion of the pigs from slaughterhouses in USA are still viremic at the time of slaughter and thus may contaminate pork supply chains causing potential pork safety concern.