Antibodies Against Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in European Moose and White-Tailed Deer in Finland
Abstract The main animal reservoirs of zoonotic hepatitis E virus (HEV) are domestic pigs and wild boars, but HEV also infects cervids. In this study, we estimated the prevalence of HEV in Finnish cervid species that are commonly hunted for human consumption. We investigated sera from 342 European m...
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2020
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0 2023-05-15T13:13:37+02:00 Antibodies Against Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in European Moose and White-Tailed Deer in Finland Loikkanen, Emil Oristo, Satu Hämäläinen, Natalia Jokelainen, Pikka Kantala, Tuija Sukura, Antti Maunula, Leena Maa- ja MetsätalousministeriÖ University of Helsinki including Helsinki University Central Hospital 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Food and Environmental Virology volume 12, issue 4, page 333-341 ISSN 1867-0334 1867-0342 Virology Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis Food Science Epidemiology journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0 2021-11-02T14:00:46Z Abstract The main animal reservoirs of zoonotic hepatitis E virus (HEV) are domestic pigs and wild boars, but HEV also infects cervids. In this study, we estimated the prevalence of HEV in Finnish cervid species that are commonly hunted for human consumption. We investigated sera from 342 European moose ( Alces alces ), 70 white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ), and 12 European roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus ). The samples had been collected from legally hunted animals from different districts of Finland during 2008–2009. We analysed the samples for total anti-HEV antibodies using a double-sandwich ELISA assay. Seropositive sera were analysed with RT-qPCR for HEV RNA. HEV seroprevalence was 9.1% (31/342) in moose and 1.4% (1/70) in white-tailed deer. None of the European roe deer were HEV seropositive (0/12). No HEV RNA was detected from samples of seropositive animals. HEV seropositive moose were detected in all districts. Statistically, HEV seroprevalence in moose was significantly higher ( p < 0.05) in the North-East area compared to the South-West area. The highest HEV seroprevalence (20.0%) in district level was more than six times higher than the lowest (3.1%). We demonstrated the presence of total anti-HEV antibodies in European moose and white-tailed deer in Finland. Our results suggest that HEV is circulating among the moose population. Infections may occur also in white-tailed deer. We were the first to report a HEV seropositive white-tailed deer from Europe. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the HEV genotypes in cervids in Finland and to evaluate the importance of the findings in relation to food safety. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces Springer Nature (via Crossref) Food and Environmental Virology 12 4 333 341 |
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Open Polar |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Virology Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis Food Science Epidemiology |
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Virology Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis Food Science Epidemiology Loikkanen, Emil Oristo, Satu Hämäläinen, Natalia Jokelainen, Pikka Kantala, Tuija Sukura, Antti Maunula, Leena Antibodies Against Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in European Moose and White-Tailed Deer in Finland |
topic_facet |
Virology Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis Food Science Epidemiology |
description |
Abstract The main animal reservoirs of zoonotic hepatitis E virus (HEV) are domestic pigs and wild boars, but HEV also infects cervids. In this study, we estimated the prevalence of HEV in Finnish cervid species that are commonly hunted for human consumption. We investigated sera from 342 European moose ( Alces alces ), 70 white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ), and 12 European roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus ). The samples had been collected from legally hunted animals from different districts of Finland during 2008–2009. We analysed the samples for total anti-HEV antibodies using a double-sandwich ELISA assay. Seropositive sera were analysed with RT-qPCR for HEV RNA. HEV seroprevalence was 9.1% (31/342) in moose and 1.4% (1/70) in white-tailed deer. None of the European roe deer were HEV seropositive (0/12). No HEV RNA was detected from samples of seropositive animals. HEV seropositive moose were detected in all districts. Statistically, HEV seroprevalence in moose was significantly higher ( p < 0.05) in the North-East area compared to the South-West area. The highest HEV seroprevalence (20.0%) in district level was more than six times higher than the lowest (3.1%). We demonstrated the presence of total anti-HEV antibodies in European moose and white-tailed deer in Finland. Our results suggest that HEV is circulating among the moose population. Infections may occur also in white-tailed deer. We were the first to report a HEV seropositive white-tailed deer from Europe. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the HEV genotypes in cervids in Finland and to evaluate the importance of the findings in relation to food safety. |
author2 |
Maa- ja MetsätalousministeriÖ University of Helsinki including Helsinki University Central Hospital |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Loikkanen, Emil Oristo, Satu Hämäläinen, Natalia Jokelainen, Pikka Kantala, Tuija Sukura, Antti Maunula, Leena |
author_facet |
Loikkanen, Emil Oristo, Satu Hämäläinen, Natalia Jokelainen, Pikka Kantala, Tuija Sukura, Antti Maunula, Leena |
author_sort |
Loikkanen, Emil |
title |
Antibodies Against Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in European Moose and White-Tailed Deer in Finland |
title_short |
Antibodies Against Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in European Moose and White-Tailed Deer in Finland |
title_full |
Antibodies Against Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in European Moose and White-Tailed Deer in Finland |
title_fullStr |
Antibodies Against Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in European Moose and White-Tailed Deer in Finland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Antibodies Against Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in European Moose and White-Tailed Deer in Finland |
title_sort |
antibodies against hepatitis e virus (hev) in european moose and white-tailed deer in finland |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0/fulltext.html |
genre |
Alces alces |
genre_facet |
Alces alces |
op_source |
Food and Environmental Virology volume 12, issue 4, page 333-341 ISSN 1867-0334 1867-0342 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12560-020-09442-0 |
container_title |
Food and Environmental Virology |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
333 |
op_container_end_page |
341 |
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1766259466230038528 |