Antonio Rivero-Juarez1, Mario Frias2, Ana Belen Perez3, Juan Antonio Pineda4, Gabriel Reina5, Ana Fuentes-Lopez6, Carolina Freyre-Carrillo7, Encarnación Ramirez-Arellano8, Juan Carlos Alados9, Antonio Rivero2. 1. Unit of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Córdoba, Spain; CIBERINFEC, ISCIII - CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: arjvet@gmail.com. 2. Unit of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Córdoba, Spain; CIBERINFEC, ISCIII - CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. 3. CIBERINFEC, ISCIII - CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; Clinical Microbiology Unit, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Córdoba, Spain. 4. CIBERINFEC, ISCIII - CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; Unit of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Hospital Universitario de Valme, Seville, Spain. 5. Microbiology Department, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, STUN, Institute of Tropical Health, Universidad de Navarra, diSNA, Navarra Institute for Health Research, Pamplona, Spain. 6. CIBERINFEC, ISCIII - CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; Clinical Microbiology Unit, Hospital Universitario Clínico San Cecilio, Granada, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria Ibs.Granada, Granada, Spain. 7. Clinical Microbiology Unit, University Hospital of Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain. 8. Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Preventive Medicine Unit, Virgen Macarena Univ. Hospital, and Department of Medicine, University of Sevilla / Biomedicine Institute of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain. 9. Clinical Microbiology Unit, Hospital Universitario de Jerez, Cádiz, Spain.
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIM: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) was considered the only member of the Hepeviridae family with zoonotic potential. Nevertheless, this consideration has been reassessed owing to several reported cases of acute and chronic hepatitis linked to the Orthohepevirus C genus. Because the circulation of Orthohepevirus C in rodents has been described worldwide, the risk of zoonotic transmission is plausibly global. METHODS: Orthohepevirus C RNA was retrospectively evaluated in 2 cohorts of patients in Spain. The first cohort included patients with acute hepatitis without etiological diagnosis after screening for hepatotropic virus infection. The second cohort included patients diagnosed with acute HEV infection, defined as positivity for anti-HEV-IgM antibodies and/or detectable HEV RNA in serum. RESULTS: Cohort 1 comprised 169 patients (64.4% male, median age 43 years) and cohort 2 comprised 98 individuals (68.3% male, median age 45 years). Of the individuals included in Cohort 1, two (1.18%; 95% CI 0.2-3.8) had detectable Orthohepevirus C RNA in serum. In Cohort 2, of the 98 included patients, 58 showed detectable HEV RNA, while 40 only showed positivity for IgM antibodies. Among those bearing only IgM antibodies, Orthohepevirus C RNA was detected in 1 (2.5%; 95% CI 0.06-13.1) individual. All strains were consistent with genotype C1. The infection resulted in mild self-limiting acute hepatitis in 2 patients. Infection caused severe acute hepatitis in the remaining patient who died as a result of liver and renal failure. CONCLUSIONS: We described 3 cases of Orthohepevirus C in patients with acute hepatitis, resulting in the first description of this infection in Europe. The prevalence obtained in our study suggests that Orthohepevirus C could be an emerging disease in Europe. LAY SUMMARY: We describe the first cases of acute hepatitis related to rat hepatitis E virus in Europe. The prevalence found in our study suggest that rat hepatitis E virus could be considered an emerging disease in Europe.
BACKGROUND & AIM: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) was considered the only member of the Hepeviridae family with zoonotic potential. Nevertheless, this consideration has been reassessed owing to several reported cases of acute and chronic hepatitis linked to the Orthohepevirus C genus. Because the circulation of Orthohepevirus C in rodents has been described worldwide, the risk of zoonotic transmission is plausibly global. METHODS: Orthohepevirus C RNA was retrospectively evaluated in 2 cohorts of patients in Spain. The first cohort included patients with acute hepatitis without etiological diagnosis after screening for hepatotropic virus infection. The second cohort included patients diagnosed with acute HEV infection, defined as positivity for anti-HEV-IgM antibodies and/or detectable HEV RNA in serum. RESULTS: Cohort 1 comprised 169 patients (64.4% male, median age 43 years) and cohort 2 comprised 98 individuals (68.3% male, median age 45 years). Of the individuals included in Cohort 1, two (1.18%; 95% CI 0.2-3.8) had detectable Orthohepevirus C RNA in serum. In Cohort 2, of the 98 included patients, 58 showed detectable HEV RNA, while 40 only showed positivity for IgM antibodies. Among those bearing only IgM antibodies, Orthohepevirus C RNA was detected in 1 (2.5%; 95% CI 0.06-13.1) individual. All strains were consistent with genotype C1. The infection resulted in mild self-limiting acute hepatitis in 2 patients. Infection caused severe acute hepatitis in the remaining patient who died as a result of liver and renal failure. CONCLUSIONS: We described 3 cases of Orthohepevirus C in patients with acute hepatitis, resulting in the first description of this infection in Europe. The prevalence obtained in our study suggests that Orthohepevirus C could be an emerging disease in Europe. LAY SUMMARY: We describe the first cases of acute hepatitis related to rat hepatitis E virus in Europe. The prevalence found in our study suggest that rat hepatitis E virus could be considered an emerging disease in Europe.
Authors: Ali A Rabaan; Muhammed A Bakhrebah; Majed S Nassar; Zuhair S Natto; Abbas Al Mutair; Saad Alhumaid; Mohammed Aljeldah; Mohammed Garout; Wadha A Alfouzan; Fatimah S Alshahrani; Tarek Sulaiman; Meshal K AlFonaisan; Mubarak Alfaresi; Saleh A Alshamrani; Firzan Nainu; Shin Jie Yong; Om Prakash Choudhary; Naveed Ahmed Journal: Pathogens Date: 2022-06-21