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Prevalence of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) Antibodies in Mexican Pigs

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Abstract

The hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the causative agent of Hepatitis E, an enterically transmitted disease. HEV infections in pigs and humans have been reported worldwide, but data from Mexico are scarce. In the present study, the prevalence of anti-HEV IgG antibodies was investigated in a quite large number of swine from Mexico by means of an ELISA based on a recombinant open reading frame 2 protein of HEV genotype 3. Serum samples from 683 healthy pigs (1–48 months old), collected during 2010–2013 in 109 herds from 48 municipalities located in 9 states in the centre of the country were assayed. A 30.75 % (210/683) of the sera tested were positive, and they were distributed along all the states included in the study. The prevalence of anti-HEV antibodies varied widely between municipalities and herds, and it was higher in pigs 4–6 months of age. No relationships were detected between seroprevalences and farm characteristics. Forty individual faecal samples were analysed by RT-PCR and all resulted negative. These data indicate that HEV infection is widespread in Mexican pigs; thus, representing a potential zoonotic risk for humans.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by grants E-RTA2013-0013 from Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) and S2013/ABI-2906, (PLATESA) from Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Madrid, Spain

    Teresa Merino-Ramos, Miguel A. Martín-Acebes & Juan-Carlos Saiz

  2. Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Casal

  3. Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Casal

  4. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrícolas, Forestales y Pecuarias (CENID-Microbiología), Carretera México-Toluca Km. 15.5, Colonia Palo Alto, 05110, México, DF, Mexico

    Elizabeth Loza-Rubio

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  1. Teresa Merino-Ramos
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  2. Miguel A. Martín-Acebes
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  3. Jordi Casal
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  4. Juan-Carlos Saiz
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  5. Elizabeth Loza-Rubio
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Correspondence to Juan-Carlos Saiz.

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Merino-Ramos, T., Martín-Acebes, M.A., Casal, J. et al. Prevalence of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) Antibodies in Mexican Pigs. Food Environ Virol 8, 156–159 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12560-016-9231-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12560-016-9231-y

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