Issue |
Vet. Res.
Volume 41, Number 6, November–December 2010
Emerging and re-emerging animal viruses
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|
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Number of page(s) | 20 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/vetres/2010018 | |
Published online | 02 April 2010 | |
How to cite this article | Vet. Res. (2010) 41:46 |
Review article
Zoonotic hepatitis E: animal reservoirs and emerging risks
1
UMR 1161 Virologie AFSSA LERPAZ, ENVA, INRA, École Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, 7 avenue du Général de Gaulle, 94704 Maisons-Alfort, France
2
Centre for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
3
Hôpital de Jour, Centre Hospitalier de Hyères, rue du Maréchal-Juin, 83400 Hyères, France
* Corresponding author: npavio@vet-alfort.fr
Received:
2
November
2009
Accepted:
1
April
2010
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is responsible for enterically-transmitted acute hepatitis in humans with two distinct epidemiological patterns. In endemic regions, large waterborne epidemics with thousands of people affected have been observed, and, in contrast, in non-endemic regions, sporadic cases have been described. Although contaminated water has been well documented as the source of infection in endemic regions, the modes of transmission in non-endemic regions are much less known. HEV is a single-strand, positive-sense RNA virus which is classified in the Hepeviridae family with at least four known main genotypes (1–4) of mammalian HEV and one avian HEV. HEV is unique among the known hepatitis viruses, in which it has an animal reservoir. In contrast to humans, swine and other mammalian animal species infected by HEV generally remain asymptomatic, whereas chickens infected by avian HEV may develop a disease known as Hepatitis-Splenomegaly syndrome. HEV genotypes 1 and 2 are found exclusively in humans while genotypes 3 and 4 are found both in humans and other mammals. Several lines of evidence indicate that, in some cases involving HEV genotypes 3 and 4, animal to human transmissions occur. Furthermore, individuals with direct contact with animals are at higher risk of HEV infection. Cross-species infections with HEV genotypes 3 and 4 have been demonstrated experimentally. However, not all sources of human infections have been identified thus far and in many cases, the origin of HEV infection in humans remains unknown.
Key words: hepatitis E virus (HEV) / cross-species transmission / zoonosis / animal reservoir / food safety
© INRA, EDP Sciences, 2010
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any noncommercial medium, provided the original work is properly cited.