Pig Liver Sausage as a Source of Hepatitis E Virus Transmission to Humans

• DOI: 10.1086/655898
• Publication Date: 2010-08-09T17:49:44Z
• Authors: Philippe Colson; Patrick Borentain; Benjamin Queyriaux; Mamadou Kaba; Valérie Moal; Pierre Gallian; Laurent Heyries; Didier Raoult; René Gerolami
• Keywords: Hepatitis E Virus; Zoonosis; Hepatitis E

The source and route of autochthonous hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections are not clearly established in industrialized countries despite evidence that it is a zoonosis pigs. We investigated the role figatellu, traditional pig liver sausage widely eaten France commonly consumed raw, as HEV infection.A case-control study was conducted 3 patients who presented 15 members their different families. Anti-HEV immunoglobulin G M antibody testing performed with commercial assays. RNA detected serum samples sausages by means real-time polymerase chain reaction sequenced in-house sequencing Genetic links between sequences were analyzed.Acute or recent infection, defined detection anti-HEV antibodies and/or RNA, observed 7 13 individuals ate raw figatellu 0 5 did eat (P=.041). Moreover, genotype recovered from 12 figatelli purchased supermarkets, statistically significant genetic found these those figatellu.Our findings strongly support hypothesis infection through ingestion figatellu.