Molecular detection of hepatitis E virus in wild boar population in eastern Romania

In industrialized countries, Hepatitis E is a recognized zoonosis, with wild boar and swine representing the main reservoirs for zoonotic genotype HEV-3 in Europe. Data related to HEV infection in wild boar population in Romania are restricted to serological surveys. Therefore, our main goal was to determine the HEV prevalence in wild boar population and to characterize HEV strains circulating in Romania. Using TaqMan real-time RT-PCR assay, we analyzed the presence of RNA HEV in 45 liver samples and five spleen samples collected from 50 wild boars. Samples were collected during the 2013-2015 hunting seasons. Nine samples of 50 were tested positive for HEV RNA, resulting an overall prevalence of 18%. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the isolates clustered in different HEV-3 monophyletic groups, depending on the sampling county. This is the first study signalling, based on molecular analysis, the presence of HEV in wild boar population from Romania. Also, in this study, we report the detection of HEV in splenic tissue from wild boar.