Hepatitis E virus - a novel foodborne pathogen
2018
Velebit, Branko (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7577-8074) | Milojević, Lazar (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6901-6033) | Djordjević, Vesna (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7236-5071)
In EU, over the last several years, the number of cases of self-limiting acute hepatitis caused by infection with hepatitis E Virus (HEV) has started to increase. Although traditionally considered as typical water-borne virus, HEV appeared to be transmitted via food chain. In many foodborne HEV outbreaks, source of infection was consumption of undercooked pork liver, pork liver containing products and game meats (wild boar, deer, rabbit). Causative agent belonged to HEV-3 genotype which is zoonotic, unlike other Orthohepevirus A genotypes such as HEV-1 and HEV-2 and common foodborne viruses such as HAV and norovirus. HEV has also been proved to be transmitted between different animal species since pigs inoculated with a rabbit strain can develop viremia and fecal shedding. The virus is endemic in pig farms and its prevalence varies significantly between countries and within herds. At slaughter, liver of pigs younger than 6 months remain to be viraemic which causes cross-contamination of prime meat cuts and equipment. Details on human HEV infection in light of characteristics of incriminated food are scarce. So far, sausages prepared from raw pork liver are absolutely proven to be the most frequent source of virus. No data exists on presence of HEV in other foods of animal or non-animal origin. Also, it is unknown if traditional meat preservation techniques such as curing, smoking, fermentation, etc. render HEV particles less- or non-infectious. What remains as the only effective control measure for HEV infection from consumption of meat, liver and products derived from animal reservoirs is sufficient heat treatment. This should be evaluated under commercial conditions by comparing different combinations of temperature/time in various matrices. Evaluation of effectiveness shows to be challenging due to non-existence of reliable cell culture indicator model and instead usage of surrogate virus models.
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