Epidemiology of hepatitis E in South-East Europe in the "One Health" concept

Table 2 Prevalence of hepatitis E in different animal species

Country	Population	Sample size	Method	anti-HEV	HEV RNA (%)/genotype (subtype)	Ref.
Bulgaria	Piglets	44	EIA	IgG 50%	NT	Pishmisheva et al[28]
	Fattening pigs	41	EIA	IgG 29.2%	NT
Croatia	Domestic pigs	848	RT-PCR	NT	24.5% (G3)	Prpić et al[40]
	Wild boars	536	RT-PCR	NT	12.3% (G3)
	Molluscs (mussels, oysters)	538	RT-PCR	NA	0%
	Cattle	32	RT-PCR	NT	0%
	Red fox	50	RT-PCR	NT	0%
	Deer	320	RT-PCR	NT	0%
	Muflons	12	RT-PCR	NT	0%
	Ferrets	8	RT-PCR	NT	0%
	Martens	10	RT-PCR	NT	0%
	Pigs (serum samples)	60	EIA/RT-PCR	IgG 91.7%	13.3% 8.1%	Lipej et al [39]
	Pigs (bile samples)	60	RT-PCR	NA	8.1%
	Pigs, domestic	1424	EIA/RT-PCR	IgG 32.94%	0%	Jemeršić et al[41]
	Wild boars	1000	EIA/RT-PCR	IgG 31.10%	11.33%
Greece	Mussels	51	RT-PCR	NT	0%	Diez-Valcarce et al55]
	Black rats/Norway rats	20	RT-PCR	NT	10%	Ryll et al[50]
Romania	Farm pigs	50	EIA/IB	IgG 50%	NT	Savuta et al[62]
	Backyard pigs	95	EIA/IB	IgG 38.94%
	Backyard pigs	112	EIA	IgG 49.27%	NT	Savuta et al[58]
	Pigs (2-4 mo) stool samples	19	RT-PCR	NT	31.58% (G3)	Anita et al[61]
	Wild boars	52	EIA	9.61%1	NT	Porea et al[63]
	Wild boars	68	EIA	IgG 10.29%	NT	Porea et al[63]
	Wild boars	50	RT-PCR	NT	18% (G3)	Porea et al[65]
Serbia	Farm pigs (pooled stool samples)	30	RT-PCR	NT	30%	Petrovic et al[67]
	Farm pigs (polled tissue samples)	20	RT-PCR	NT	45%
	Backyard pigs (pooled tissue samples)	15	RT-PCR	NT	0%
	Wild boars (pooled stool samples)	10	RT-PCR	NT	0%
	Backyard pigs	315	EIA	IgG 34.6%	NT	Lupulovic et al[68]
	Pigs (liver samples)	50	NT	NT	26%	Savic et al[69]
	Fattening pigs	95	NT	NT	7.37%	Petrović et al[71]
	Piglets (8 wk)	50	NT	NT	64%
	Pigs (blood samples)	55	EIA	IgG 54.54%	NT	Lupulovic et al[70]
	Pigs (meat juice samples)	55	EIA	IgG 20%	NT
Slovenia	Black rats/Norway rats	17/1	RT-PCR	NT	0%	Ryll et al[50]
	Domestic pigs	85	RT-PCR	NT	20.3%	Steyer et al[74]
	Suckling pigs (0-3 wk)	38	RT-PCR	NT	5.3%
	Weanling pigs (3-10 wk)	21	RT-PCR	NT	28.6%
	Fattening pigs (> 10 wk)	26	RT-PCR	NT	26.9%
	Wild boars	288	EIA/RT-PCR	30.21%1	0.35%	Žele et al[75]
	Pigs (stool samples)	811	RT-PCR	NT	5.4%	Raspor Lainšček et al[76]
	Pigs (bile samples)	811	RT-PCR	NT	4.9%
	Pigs (liver samples)	811	RT-PCR	NT	5.3% (G3a, 3b, 3c, 3e)

¹Total anti-hepatitis E virus antibodies. HEV: Hepatitis E virus; EIA: Enzyme immunoassay; IB: Immunoblot; RT-PCR: Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; NT: Not tested; NA: Not applicable.