JVI Figure table search 04
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Meng, X.-J.
Right arrow Articles by Emerson, S. U.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Meng, X.-J.
Right arrow Articles by Emerson, S. U.

Journal of Virology, December 1998, p. 9714-9721, Vol. 72, No. 12
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Genetic and Experimental Evidence for Cross-Species Infection by Swine Hepatitis E Virus

Xiang-Jin Meng,1,* Patrick G. Halbur,2 Max S. Shapiro,3 Sugantha Govindarajan,4 Jeremy D. Bruna,2 Isa K. Mushahwar,5 Robert H. Purcell,1 and Suzanne U. Emerson1

Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 208921; Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 500112; Bioqual, Inc., Rockville, Maryland 208503; Pathology and Clinical Laboratories, Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center, Downey, California 902424; and Viral Discovery Group, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Illinois 600645

Received 26 May 1998/Accepted 24 August 1998

Prior to the recent discovery of the swine hepatitis E virus (swine HEV) in pigs from the midwestern United States, HEV was not considered endemic to this country. Since swine HEV is antigenically and genetically related to human strains of HEV, it was important to characterize this new virus further. The infectivity titer of a pool of swine HEV in pigs was determined in order to prepare a standardized reagent and to evaluate the dose response in pigs. Although the sequence of swine HEV varied extensively from those of most human strains of HEV, it was very closely related to the two strains of human HEV (US-1 and US-2) isolated in the United States. The U.S. strains which were recently recovered from two patients with clinical hepatitis E in the United States shared >= 97% amino acid identity with swine HEV in open reading frames 1 and 2. Phylogenetic analyses of different regions of the genome revealed that swine HEV and the U.S. strains grouped together and formed a distinct branch. These results suggested that swine HEV may infect humans. When we inoculated rhesus monkeys and a chimpanzee, experimental surrogates of humans, with swine HEV, the primates became infected. Furthermore, in a reciprocal experiment, specific-pathogen-free pigs were experimentally infected with the US-2 strain of human HEV that is genetically similar to swine HEV. These results provided experimental evidence for cross-species infection by the swine virus. Thus, humans appear to be at risk of infection with swine HEV or closely related viruses.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, NIAID, National Institutes of Health, Bldg. 7, Rm. 206, 7 Center Dr. MSC 0740, Bethesda, MD 20892-0740. Phone: (301) 496-6227. Fax: (301) 402-0524. E-mail: xjmeng{at}atlas.niaid.nih.gov.

Journal of Virology, December 1998, p. 9714-9721, Vol. 72, No. 12
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Mol. Cell. Biol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 1998 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.