Ferret Hepatitis E Virus Infection in Japan

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases Vol. 68; no. 1; pp. 60 - 62
• Main Authors: Li, Tian-Cheng, Yonemitsu, Kenzo, Terada, Yutaka, Takeda, Naokazu, Takaji, Wakita, Maeda, Ken
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases Editorial Committee 01.01.2015
• Subjects: ALT; Animals; Cluster Analysis; Feces - virology; Female; ferret hepatitis E virus; Ferrets; Genetic Variation; Genotype; Hepatitis E - epidemiology; Hepatitis E - veterinary; Hepatitis E - virology; Hepatitis E virus - isolation & purification; Hospitals, Animal; Japan - epidemiology; Male; Molecular Epidemiology; Molecular Sequence Data; pathogenicity; pet; Phylogeny; RNA, Viral - genetics; RNA, Viral - isolation & purification; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology; Japan

We examined 85 fecal samples from pet ferrets in 10 animal hospitals in Japan for the detection of ferret hepatitis E virus (HEV) RNA. We found that 6 (7.1%) of the samples were positive for ferret HEV RNA. Phylogenetic analysis based on the partial ORF1 indicated that these ferret HEV strains were...