Anti-HEV Polyclonal antibody

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of co-infection of hepatitis A and hepatitis E virus (HAV/HEV) in patients with acute hepatitis as well as in different animal species. A total of 46 serum samples from patients diagnosed as hepatitis A or hepatitis E and 675 fecal samples of 11 animal species were collected. The IgM class antibodies to HEV and HAV, respectively, were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. HEV and HAV RNAs were extracted from serum and fecal samples for the nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. At least 10.9% (5/46) of the patients were co-infected with both HAV and HEV. Fifteen percent (18/120) of rabbit fecal samples and 17.5% (7/40) of swine fecal samples were positive for HEV RNA, but only 1% (2/200) of ferret fecal samples were positive for HAV RNA. Our study showed that co-infection with both HAV and HEV in patients and animals is infrequent. At least in our study, we showed that ferrets may represent the potential HAV hosts.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) as an emerging zoonotic pathogen causes a major public health issue. Transmission from domestic, wildlife and zoo animals to human has been widely reported. Whether pets also serve as reservoirs remains an intriguing question. In this study, we found the sero-positive rates of HEV-specific antibodies in pet dogs, cats and horses of 18.52% (30/162), 14.89% (7/47) and 18.18% (4/22) in the Netherlands. Although HEV viral RNA was not detected in these animals, we have demonstrated that dog liver cells are susceptible to HEV infection in vitro. These results call more attention to address the potential role of pets in the zoonotic transmission of HEV.