Premium
Prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis E virus among apparently healthy humans and pigs in Bali, Indonesia: Identification of a pig infected with a genotype 4 hepatitis E virus
Author(s) -
Wibawa I. Dewa Nyoman,
Muljono David H.,
Suryadarma I.G.A.,
Tsuda Fumio,
Takahashi Masaharu,
Nishizawa Tsutomu,
Okamoto Hiroaki
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.20059
Subject(s) - virology , hepatitis e virus , genotype , virus , biology , antibody , hepatitis , viral disease , medicine , immunology , gene , genetics
In Indonesia where hepatitis E virus (HEV) is believed to be highly endemic, only three outbreaks of HEV transmission have been documented to date in restricted areas (West Kalimantan and East Java). A total of 1,115 serum samples collected from apparently healthy individuals in Bali, Lombok, and Surabaya in Indonesia in 1996 where epidemic HEV transmissions have never been reported, were tested for IgG class antibodies to HEV (anti‐HEV). In Bali, anti‐HEV was detected in 20% (54/276) of the tested population, in remarkable contrast with 4% (17/446) in Lombok and 0.5% (2/393) in Surabaya. On the other hand, antibodies to hepatitis A virus were highly prevalent in all three regions (95% in Bali, 90% in Lombok, and 89% in Surabaya). Although the majority of the population in Indonesia is Moslem, Balinese people are mostly Hindu and have a habit of consuming pork. Therefore, serum samples were obtained from the 99 farm pigs in Bali and tested for anti‐HEV and HEV RNA. The sera from 71 pigs (72%) were positive for anti‐HEV and a 2‐month‐old pig had detectable HEV RNA. The swine HEV isolate recovered from the viremic pig was named SB66‐Bali. The SB66‐Bali isolate was most closely related to the genotype 4 isolates from China, India, Japan, and Taiwan, but shared only 82.6–90.0% identity in the common 241–412 nucleotides within open reading frame 2 (ORF2). These results indicate that a presumably indigenous HEV strain(s) is circulating in Bali, Indonesia and that HEV infection may occur via zoonosis even in developing countries. J. Med. Virol. 73:38–44, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.