Extensive genomic diversity has been observed among hepatitis E virus (HEV) strains. However, the implication of the genetic heterogeneity on HEV antigenic properties is uncertain. In this study, monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) against truncated ORF2-encoded proteins (aa452-617, designated p166 proteins) derived from HEV strains of Burma (genotype 1a, p166Bur), Pakistan (1b, p166Pak) and Morocco (...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important public health concern in many developing countries and it occurs in sporadic forms in industrialized areas. With the discovery of swine HEV in pigs, which is genetically closely related to human HEV, hepatitis E is considered to be a zoonotic disease. To investigate the circulation of HEV within a distinct area of Lombardy region (Northern Italy), 17 pig ...

Antibodies against hepatitis E virus (anti-HEV) were found in 248 Swedish and Danish patients between 1993 and 2007. Most patients were symptomatic and tested for anti-HEV due to travel abroad. Among patients with known country of infection, most were infected in Asia, mainly on the Indian subcontinent. However, 29 patients were infected in Europe, nine of these had HEV IgM and/or HEV RNA in se...

BACKGROUND Although Iran is reported to be an endemic country for hepatitis E virus (HEV), data on the prevalence of HEV infection among pregnant women are scarce and the epidemiology of HEV is unknown in most parts of the country. Therefore, this study was conducted to elucidate the prevalence, risk factors and genotypic pattern of HEV infection among pregnant women resident in the northern sh...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important public health concern in many developing countries. HEV is also endemic in some industrialized counties, including the United States. With our recent discovery of swine HEV in pigs that is genetically closely related to human HEV, hepatitis E is now considered a zoonotic disease. Human strains of HEV are genetically heterogenic. So far in the United State...

A full-length infectious cDNA clone (pJE03-1760F/wt) of a genotype 3 hepatitis E virus (HEV) (strain JE03-1760F) obtained from a faecal specimen was constructed in this study. Upon transfection of the capped in vitro transcripts of pJE03-1760F/wt into PLC/PRF/5 cells, the viral RNA levels in the culture supernatant started to increase on day 6 post-transfection (p.t.) and reached 10(7) copies m...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis E virus is a major cause of outbreaks as well as sporadic hepatitis cases worldwide. The epidemiology of this enterically transmitted infection differs between developing and developed countries. The aims of this study were to describe HEV infection in Colombian patients and to characterize the genotype. METHODS A prospective study was carried out on 40 patients aged over...

To determine the initiation strategy of the hepatitis E virus (HEV) open reading frame 3 (ORF3), we constructed five HEV mutants with desired mutations in the ORF1 and ORF2 junction region and tested their levels of in vivo infectivity in pigs. A mutant with a C-terminally truncated ORF3 is noninfectious in pigs, indicating that an intact ORF3 is required for in vivo infectivity. Mutations with...

We recently identified and characterized a novel virus, designated avian hepatitis E virus (avian HEV), from chickens with hepatitis-splenomegaly syndrome (HS syndrome) in the United States. Avian HEV is genetically related to but distinct from human and swine HEVs. To determine the extent of genetic variation and the seroprevalence of avian HEV infection in chicken flocks, we genetically ident...

was found to be slightly different from other HEVs and included a putative ORF (ORF4) of 552 nt that overlapped with ORF1 (online Technical Appendix Figure). A similar pattern of genome organization was observed for both FRHEVs. Phylogenetic analysis of the complete genomes clearly showed that FRHEV was separated from genotype 1–4 HEVs and clustered with rat HEV (Figure). Similar phylogenetic c...