Autochthonous hepatitis E infection in a slaughterhouse worker.

We report the first hepatitis E infection case detected in a slaughterhouse worker. The identified strain belonged to genotype 3, subtype 3f. Partial sequence analysis of the strain isolated from his serum showed a percentage of nucleotide homology ranging from 83.4% up to 97.3% compared with European human and swine strains, respectively. These findings point strongly to hepatitis E virus as a vocationally acquired illness by means of the manipulation of infected organs from pigs.