Temporal changes in the genotypes of Paslahepevirus balayani in southern Spain and their possible link with changes in pig trade imports
Pedro Lopez-Lopez,
Mario Frias,
Ana Belén Perez-Jimenez,
Carolina Freyre-Carrillo,
Juan A. Pineda,
Ana Fuentes,
Juan Carlos Alados,
Encarnación Ramirez-Arellano,
Isabel Viciana,
Diana Corona-Mata,
Javier Caballero-Gomez,
Ignacio Garcia-Bocanegra,
María A. Risalde,
Antonio Rivero-Juarez,
Antonio Rivero
Affiliations
Pedro Lopez-Lopez
Service of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Instituto Maimonides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Cordoba, Spain; CIBERINFEC, ISCIII – CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain
Mario Frias
Service of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Instituto Maimonides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Cordoba, Spain; CIBERINFEC, ISCIII – CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain
Ana Belén Perez-Jimenez
CIBERINFEC, ISCIII – CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Clinical Microbiology Unit, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain; Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Córdoba, Spain
Carolina Freyre-Carrillo
Clinical Microbiology Unit, University Hospital of Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain
Juan A. Pineda
CIBERINFEC, ISCIII – CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Unit of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Hospital Universitario de Valme, Seville, Spain
Ana Fuentes
CIBERINFEC, ISCIII – CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Clinical Microbiology Unit, Hospital Universitario Clínico San Cecilio, Granada, Spain; Instituto de Investigacion Biosanitaria Ibs. Granada, Granada, Spain
Juan Carlos Alados
Clinical Microbiology Unit, Hospital Universitario de Jerez, Cádiz, Spain; Insituto de investigación e innovación biomédica de Cadiz (INIBICA), Spain
Encarnación Ramirez-Arellano
Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Preventive Medicine Unit, Virgen Macarena Univ. Hospital, and Department of Medicine, University of Sevilla/Biomedicine Institute of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
Isabel Viciana
Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Preventive Medicine Unit, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Málaga, Spain
Diana Corona-Mata
Service of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Instituto Maimonides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Cordoba, Spain
Javier Caballero-Gomez
Service of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Instituto Maimonides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Cordoba, Spain; CIBERINFEC, ISCIII – CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Departamento Sanidad Animal, Grupo de Investigación en Sanidad Animal y Zoonosis (GISAZ), UIC Zoonosis y Enfermedades Emergentes ENZOEM, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Edificio Sanidad Animal, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
Ignacio Garcia-Bocanegra
CIBERINFEC, ISCIII – CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Departamento Sanidad Animal, Grupo de Investigación en Sanidad Animal y Zoonosis (GISAZ), UIC Zoonosis y Enfermedades Emergentes ENZOEM, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Edificio Sanidad Animal, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
María A. Risalde
CIBERINFEC, ISCIII – CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Departamento Sanidad Animal, Grupo de Investigación en Sanidad Animal y Zoonosis (GISAZ), UIC Zoonosis y Enfermedades Emergentes ENZOEM, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Edificio Sanidad Animal, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
Antonio Rivero-Juarez
Service of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Instituto Maimonides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Cordoba, Spain; CIBERINFEC, ISCIII – CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain; Corresponding author at: Virología Clínica y Zoonosis, Instituto Maimonides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Avenida Menedez Pidal, s/n. 14004, Córdoba, Spain.
Antonio Rivero
Service of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Instituto Maimonides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Cordoba, Spain; CIBERINFEC, ISCIII – CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain
Introduction: Paslahepevirus balayani (HEV) is an endemic zoonotic disease ranked as a major cause of acute hepatitis in Europe. Most infections occurring in Europe are due to the endemic several subtypes of genotype 3, through the consumption of raw or undercooked pork, observing a genotype geographical distribution pattern among countries Because of global changes in the pig and pork trading markets, subtype distribution might vary. We aimed to evaluate the temporal distribution of HEV genotypes in patients from southern Spain with acute hepatitis to determine whether these changes were related to the pig import trade during the study period between 2018 and 2022. Methods: Prospective longitudinal study including patients with acute hepatitis from southern Spain between 2018 and 2022. HEV RNA and antibodies was tested in all patients. In patients with detectable HEV RNA, genotype was obtained. To determine the number of imported pigs and their origins, we checked the official data from the Spanish statistics on international trade of Spanish Minister of Industry during by country of origin during the same study period. Results: A total of 659 patients with acute hepatitis were included in the study. Among them, 162 (24.5%) had at least one marker (IgM or RNA) of acute HEV infection. Among the 71 patients with detectable viral RNA, genotypes could be obtained for 58 (81.6%). The most prevalent HEV genotype was 3f (n = 48; 78.6%), showing a decreasing prevalence of over time, from 100% in 2018 to 70.6% in 2022. Since 2021, the emergence of other genotypes has been determined. A significant increase in the number of animals imported was observed since the beginning of the study. Denmark experienced a significant rise, from 0.03% in 2018 of total imports to 10.4% in 2022. Conclusions: HEV molecular diversity is changing in Spain, could be linked to changes in fattening pig import origin.
