Poster communication in HEV2018 Hepatitis E: Paradigm of a food-borne zoonotic emerging disease in Europe

June 4^th, 2018

Navarro A., de la Cruz ML., Barcena C., Hernandez M., Martinez I., Gonzalez S., Goyache J., Rodriguez-Lazaro D. and Garcia N.

Hepatitis E is a viral disease currently considered an emerging zoonosis in industrialized countries. It is worldwide distributed and responsible of epidemics in developing countries and of sporadic outbreaks in developed countries. The transmission routes differ according to the area of appearance. Thus, in developing countries the transmission results from the consumption of contaminated water, while in developed countries is linked to the consumption of raw or undercooked food, specially pig liver and derived products, but also wild boar and deer ones. The most commonly used diagnostic technique is the ELISA test in serum samples, although ELISAs in meat juice samples have also been described. However, in certain cases the optimal collection of serum is not possible.
The aim of the present study is to validate the use of the liver transudate as an alternative matrix to serum for diagnosis of Hepatitis E in animals, as well to determinate the optimal dilution to be used.
For its implementation, sera and liver transudate samples were collected from 94 animals: 25 iberian pigs, 25 wild boars and 44 white pigs. A commercial ELISA kit (iDvet) was used for the analysis of both type of samples. Results obtained from the serum analysis were compared with those of undiluted transudate as well as at different dilutions (1:2, 1:10, 1:20). The agreement between the qualitative results (sera vs. liver transudate at different dilutions) was measured using the Kappa statistic and, for the comparison of the corresponding optical densities, the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was employed.
The highest agreement, according to the ELISA results in sera samples, was observed with liver transudate at a dilution of 1:10, in terms of both seropositivity and optical densities, with kappa coefficients and ICC higher than 0.728 and 0.864, respectively, even though slightly differences were observed between iberian pig and wild boar with the white pigs.
Our results demonstrate that liver transudate at a 1:10 dilution may be an interesting alternative for the detection of anti-Hepatitis E virus antibodies by ELISA in swine and wild boars, although further studies should be carried out in this regar

	Servicio de Zoonosis Emergentes, de Baja Prevalencia y Agresivos Biológicos (NED). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM).
	Departamento de Sanidad Animal. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM).
	Unidad de Microbiología. Departamento de Biotecnología y Ciencia de los Alimentos. Universidad de Burgos (UBU).
	Laboratorio de Biología Molecular y Microbiología. Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León (ITACyL).