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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 1998, p. 4485-4488, Vol. 64, No. 11
Department of Microbiology, Biology School,
University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain,1
and
Hepatitis Viruses Section, Laboratory of Infectious
Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland2
Received 5 June 1998/Accepted 7 August 1998
Raw sewage samples from an area where hepatitis E is not endemic
(Barcelona, Spain) were analyzed by reverse transcriptase-PCR followed
by nested PCR. One of the 37 tested samples showed a positive result
for hepatitis E virus (HEV). The detected strain was amplified by
inoculation into rhesus monkeys, and the course of the infection was
studied by analyzing serological and biochemical parameters and by
monitoring the presence of HEV in serum and feces. Fecal suspensions
from the rhesus monkeys were used as the source of viral particles for
sequence analysis. Eighty percent of the genome of the isolated strain,
named BCN, was sequenced and found to be phylogenetically related to
Asian (Indian) strains, with a 98% nucleotide identity with an isolate
from Madras, India. Since this was a single isolation we cannot
conclude that HEV is regularly present in the sewage. However, the
finding of viable HEV in sewage has implications for contamination of
the environment and shellfish by HEV and must be considered in the
diagnosis of viral hepatitis in regions of nonendemic hepatitis.
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Characterization of a Strain of Infectious Hepatitis E Virus
Isolated from Sewage in an Area where Hepatitis E Is Not
Endemic
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology, Biology School, University of Barcelona, Avd. Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. Phone: 34-93-402 14 91. Fax: 34-93-411 05 92. E-mail: Rosina{at}bio.ub.es.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 1998, p. 4485-4488, Vol. 64, No. 11
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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