A 'one-health' approach to the study of hepatitis E virus

摘要

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the leading cause of acute hepatitis in humans worldwide.1,2 In developing countries, infection is associated with large water-borne outbreaks. However, in recent years, HEV cases have increased in developed countries including Europe, the US and Japan, and these cases are locally acquired and sporadic, In Ireland, HEV has been a notifiable disease in humans since 2015, and the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has screened blood donations for HEV since 2016 (www.hpsc.ie), Currently, there are no vaccines and no specific treatments for HEV infection.3 Recent studies have revealed that HEV infections in Europe, including Ireland, are associated with genotype 3 HEV, and are acquired through zoonotic transmission, mainlythrough consuming pork products from infected animals and through close contact with infected pigs.3 Many infections with HEV result in a self-limiting acute disease, and so HEV infections often are undiagnosed, Some people, including individuals with pre-existing liver disease and immune-compromised individuals, including solid-organ transplantpatients, can develop more severe disease. Neurological disease and other non-hepatic manifestations also occur in a proportion of cases, although the reasons for these are not well understood.