Molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of hepatitis E virus (HEV) strains from pigs farmed in eight European countries between 2020 and 2022

Abstract

In high-income countries, the hepatitis E virus (HEV) is considered an emerging threat causing autochthonous acute hepatitis in humans, with an increased number of reported cases over the last 10 years and related increased burden of chronic hepatitis in immunocompromised and transplant patients. Pigs are the main reservoir of the HEV-3 genotype, which is the most common in Europe, and can be transmitted to humans through the consumption of raw and undercooked pork products. Extensive sequencing revealed the existence of several HEV-3 subtypes in both humans and pigs, confirming a broad heterogeneity of the virus, with some subtypes, such as 3e, 3f, and 3c, which are predominant in Europe. In this study, 291 HEV sequences were obtained from pig feces sampled in more than 74 farms located in Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, as well as an unknown number of farms in the Netherlands. Of the ninety-nine non-identical sequences (99/291), 90 were assigned to seven established HEV-3 subtypes: 3a, 3c, 3e, 3f, 3g (here named 3g-like), 3i, 3l (named 3l-like), already described in Europe, while nine sequences of HEV-3 could not be assigned to any existing subtype (here named 3*). The 3e subtype was the most common, detected in 6 out of 8 countries, followed by 3f and 3c, which were also present in several countries; 3g-like, 3i and 3l-like subtypes showed only a limited circulation. The distribution of frequently (3e, 3f and 3c) and rarely (3g-like, 3i and 3l-like) detected HEV-3 subtypes in pigs was correlated with their detection rates in human patients in Europe. The results from this study confirm the wide circulation of several HEV-3 strains in European pigs and confirms that sequencing is needed to monitor the different strains and to identify possible zoonotic transmission paths.