JCM Figure table search 04
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hsieh, S.-Y.
Right arrow Articles by Liaw, Y.-F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hsieh, S.-Y.
Right arrow Articles by Liaw, Y.-F.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 1999, p. 3828-3834, Vol. 37, No. 12
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Identity of a Novel Swine Hepatitis E Virus in Taiwan Forming a Monophyletic Group with Taiwan Isolates of Human Hepatitis E Virus

Sen-Yung Hsieh,1,2,* Xiang-Jin Meng,3,dagger Ying-Hua Wu,1,2 Shih-Tung Liu,2 Albert W. Tam,4 Dneg-Yn Lin,1 and Yun-Fan Liaw1

Liver Research Unit, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital,1 and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Chang Gung University,2 Taoyuan, Taiwan; Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 208923; and Molecular Virology Department, Genelabs Technologies, Redwood City, California 940634

Received 18 June 1999/Returned for modification 12 August 1999/Accepted 31 August 1999

Recently, we found that more than 10% of the cases of acute non-A, non-B, non-C hepatitis in Taiwan were caused by a novel strain of hepatitis E virus (HEV). Since none of these patients had a history of travel to areas where HEV is endemic, the source of transmission remains unclear. The recent discovery of a swine HEV in herd pigs in the United States has led us to speculate that HEV may also circulate in herd pigs in Taiwan and may serve as a reservoir for HEV in Taiwan. Of 275 herd pigs obtained from 10 pig farms in Taiwan, 102 (37%) were seropositive for serum anti-HEV immunoglobulin G (IgG). A 185-bp genomic sequence within the ORF-2 of the HEV genome was amplified and cloned from serum samples of an anti-HEV positive pig and subsequently from serum samples of a patient with acute hepatitis E. Sequence comparison revealed that the swine and human isolates of HEV share 97.3% identity. Phylogenetic analyses further showed that the Taiwan swine and human isolates of HEV form a distinct branch divergent from all other known strains of HEV, including the U.S. swine strain. To examine the potential risk of cross-species transmission of swine HEV to humans, the seroprevalences of anti-HEV IgG in 30 swine handlers, 20 pork dealers, and 50 control subjects were assessed and were found to be 26.7, 15, and 8%, respectively (for swine handlers versus controls, P = 0.048). Our findings may help provide an understanding of the modes of HEV transmission and may also raise potential public health concerns for HEV zoonosis.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Liver Research Unit, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 199 Tung Hua North Rd., Taipei, Taiwan 155. Phone: 886-3-3281200, ext. 8107. Fax: 886-3-3272236 and 886-3-3282824. E-mail: siming{at}adm.cgmh.com.tw.

dagger Present address: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Center for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0342.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 1999, p. 3828-3834, Vol. 37, No. 12
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. Clin. Microbiol. Rev.
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 1999 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.