High frequency of hepatitis E virus infection in swine from South Brazil and close similarity to human HEV isolates

Abstract Hepatitis E virus is responsible for acute and chronic liver infections worldwide. Swine hepatitis E virus has been isolated in Brazil, and a probable zoonotic transmission has been described, although data are still scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of hepatitis E virus infection in pigs from a small-scale farm in the rural area of Paraná State, South Brazil. Fecal samples were collected from 170 pigs and screened for hepatitis E virus RNA using a duplex real-time RT-PCR targeting a highly conserved 70 nt long sequence within overlapping parts of ORF2 an...