Prevalence of Hepatitis E Virus Infection among Laboratory Rabbits in China

Pathogens

Jingyi Shu¹  Lin Wang¹  Weijin Huang²  Chenyan Zhao²  Chunnan Liang³  Ji Wang³  Rui Fu³  Jin Xing³  Xiaobo Li³ 

[1] Health Science Center, Department of Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China;Institute for Biological Product Control, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC), Beijing 102629, China;Institute for Laboratory Animal Resources, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC), Beijing 102629, China;

关键词: hepatitis E virus;    ant-HEV antibody;    HEV antigen;    laboratory rabbit;   

DOI  :  10.3390/pathogens10060780

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is zoonotic and the leading cause of acute viral hepatitis worldwide. Rabbit HEV can infect humans and is prevalent globally. It is reported that laboratory rabbits are also naturally infected with HEV. Therefore, it is important to investigate in a large scale the prevalence of HEV in laboratory rabbits. Serum samples were collected from 649 laboratory rabbits of 13 different commercial vendors in Beijing, China, from 2017 to 2019, and anti-HEV and HEV antigen (Ag) were tested. Fecal samples were collected from 50 laboratory rabbits from one of the vendors for HEV RNA detection. Six laboratory rabbits with natural HEV infection were euthanized and their liver, kidney, bile and urine samples were collected for HEV RNA quantification. Liver tissues were subjected to histopathology analysis. The overall positive rates of anti-HEV antibodies and HEV-Ag are 2.6% (15/588) and 7.9% (51/649), respectively. HEV RNA was detected in 12.0% (6/50) of the rabbits. High viral load of HEV RNA was detected in liver and bile samples. Liver inflammation was observed. HEV is circulating in laboratory rabbit population in China. Strict screening is crucial to ensure experimental accuracy and prevent zoonotic transmission to research personnel.

【 授权许可】

Unknown