Hepatitis E virus infection in pigs: a first report from Zambia

ABSTRACT

While evidence suggests presence of HEV infection in humans in Zambia, currently, there is no information on its occurrence in domestic pigs. Here, we investigated the presence of HEV antibodies and genome in domestic pigs in Zambia. Sera (n = 484) from domestic pigs were screened for antibodies against HEV by ELISA while genome detection in fecal (n = 25) and liver (n = 100) samples from slaughter pigs was conducted using nested RT–PCR assay. Overall, seroprevalence was 47.7% (231/484) while zoonotic genotype 3 HEV RNA was detected in 16.0% (20/125) of slaughtered pigs. This is the first report to highlight occurrence of HEV infection in domestic pigs in Zambia. This finding suggests possible contamination of the pork supply chain. Moreover, there is a potential risk of zoonotic transmission of HEV to abattoir workers, pig farmers and handlers.

KEYWORDS:

• Hepatitis E virus
• genotype 3
• seroprevalence
• domestic pig
• Zambia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the NCBI GenBank at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov under accession numbers LC621322-LC621339.

Ethical approval

Approval to conduct research was obtained from the Department of Veterinary Services under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock of the Government of the Republic of Zambia. Additionally, the research did not involve human subjects or animal experiments.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported in part by the Japan Initiative for Global Research Network of Infectious Diseases [grant number JP15fm0108008]; Japan Program for Infectious Diseases Research and Infrastructure [grant number JP21wm0125008] from Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED); and grants for the AMED and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) within the framework of the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) [grant number JP21jm0110019]; Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan [grant numbers 16H06429, 16H06431, 16K21723]; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI [grant number 16H05805]; Department of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock of the Republic of Zambia. The Funders had no role in the study design, data collection and interpretation.