Hepatitis E virus infection in North Italy: high seroprevalence in swine herds and increased risk for swine workers
Epidemiology and Infection·
- DOI
- 10.1017/s0950268817002485
- PMID
- 29145911
- PMCID
- PMC9148764
- OpenAlex
- W2770373344
- Study type
- Cohort study
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The findings provide evidence of substantial HEV serological exposure in the studied swine herds and higher measured seropositivity among the sampled swine workers than in the comparison groups. The article therefore provides occupational and animal-human interface context for HEV in the study setting, without establishing causality or current population-level surveillance status.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The study assessed HEV seroprevalence and evidence of viral detection in commercial swine herds in northern Italy, and examined whether human HEV seropositivity varied by occupational pig exposure and other reported factors.
Study design
From 2011 to 2014, investigators tested sera from 2,700 pigs across 300 herds, examined HEV RNA in faecal pools and selected tissues, and conducted a cohort study of 149 swine workers with two unexposed comparison groups. The human comparison groups comprised 121 omnivores and 115 vegetarians or vegans.
Population and setting
The study was conducted in Italy's most pig-dense area and included commercial swine herds, pigs from HEV-positive herds, swine workers, and people without occupational swine exposure.
Main findings
Anti-HEV IgG was detected in 75.6% of herds, with the highest reported herd prevalence in farrow-to-feeder operations at 81.6%. HEV RNA was found in faecal samples from 26 of 105 tested herds, including 25 HEV-3 detections and one HEV-4 detection; only one bile sample was positive. Human seropositivity was 12.3% among swine workers, compared with 0.9% among omnivores and 3.0% among vegetarians or vegans. Reported associations included occupational pig exposure, travel to Africa, and older age among swine workers.
Public-health relevance
The findings provide evidence of substantial HEV serological exposure in the studied swine herds and higher measured seropositivity among the sampled swine workers than in the comparison groups. The article therefore provides occupational and animal-human interface context for HEV in the study setting, without establishing causality or current population-level surveillance status.
Important limitations
The supplied abstract does not state study limitations. This summary relies only on the supplied single-article abstract and metadata; the original paper is required for decision-grade assessment of sampling, analysis, temporality, confounding, and generalisability.
GIDS interpretation
The supplied classifier metadata makes the article discoverable under Hepatitis E, Italy, One Health, and related topic categories. These classifications provide context for retrieval only and do not connect the article to a live surveillance signal or confirm present-day conditions.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 9 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.