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Hepatitis E virus (HEV) comprises at least 8 distinct genotypes. In industrialized countries, swine HEV of the zoonotic genotypes 3 and 4 (HEV-3 and HEV-4) is an emerging foodborne pathogen, transmitted by consumption of raw or undercooked pork. Recently, HEV-3 has been detected in human blood donors in the United States. We previously showed that HEV-3 is present in US swine herds and that a small proportion of commercial pork products from US grocery stores contain infectious HEV. However, the current HEV infection status of US market-weight pigs at the time of slaughter, the entry point to the food supply chain, remains unknown. We therefore investigated the presence of HEV RNA and HEV IgG prevalence in 5,033 serum samples from market-weight pigs at 25 slaughterhouses in 10 US states.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) RNA was detected in 6.3% and HEV IgG in 40% of 5,033 serum samples from market-weight pigs at 25 slaughterhouses in 10 US states. The prevalent HEV genotype was zoonotic genotype 3, group 2. Blood of HEV-viremic pigs from slaughterhouses may contaminate pork supply chains.
Sooryanarain, H., Heffron, C. L., Hill, D. E., Fredericks, J., Rosenthal, B. M., Werre, S. R....Meng, X. (2020). Hepatitis E Virus in Pigs from Slaughterhouses, United States, 2017–2019. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 26(2), 354-357. https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2602.191348.
