[Prevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) and risk factors in pig workers and blood donors]

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the main causative agent of enterically transmitted non-A non-B hepatitis with a self-limiting clinical presentation in humans. The increasing number of non-immigrant cases of hepatitis E and the high prevalence detected in pigs suggested that this species is a reservoir. Several studies have been published describing differences in the prevalence of anti-HEV antibodies between people exposed and not exposed to pigs, but the risk factors for the acquisition of the virus have not been well studied. The aim of this work was to study the prevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV), IgG and IgM antibodies anti-HEV and the risk factors for the acquisition of this virus in a populations exposed and unexposed to pigs.

Sera from 212 people were tested for the presence of RNA-HEV, IgG and IgM antibodies anti-HEV. Positive results obtained using ELISA assays were confirmed by western-blot.

RNA-HEV and IgM anti-VHE were not detected in any of the individuals. Twenty-five samples (11.8%) showed IgG anti-HEV, 21 (18.6%) persons in contact with pigs and 4 (4%) unexposed individuals (P=0.004); 19 (12.8%) had travelled out of Spain in the last year (P=0.507). None of the 25 seropositive people had consumed raw shellfish (P=0.999), whereas 23 (12.6%) had consumed raw vegetables (P=0.387) and 12 (30%) usually drank untreated water (P=0.008).

These data support that HEV infection should be treated as an occupational disease illness in pig workers. Therefore, systematic application of hygiene measures in this group is highly recommended to avoid exposure to this virus.