Hepatitis E virus seroprevalence among blood donors in southwest Switzerland

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 6; no. 6; p. e21150
• Main Authors: Kaufmann, Annatina, Kenfak-Foguena, Alain, André, Cyril, Canellini, Giorgia, Bürgisser, Philippe, Moradpour, Darius, Darling, Katharine E A, Cavassini, Matthias
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 20.06.2011; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Alanine; Alanine transaminase; Amino acids; Analysis; Biology; Blood; Blood & organ donations; Blood donation; Blood donors; Blood Donors - statistics & numerical data; Blood transfusion; Blood transfusions; Disease transmission; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Epidemiology; Exploration; Female; Food industry; Foodborne diseases; Gender; Genotype & phenotype; Hemodialysis; Hepatitis; Hepatitis E; Hepatitis E virus - immunology; Hepatitis E virus - isolation & purification; Humans; Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulins; Immunology; Imports; Industrialized nations; Infections; Infectious diseases; International economic relations; Livestock; Male; Meat; Meat industry; Medicine; Middle Aged; Mortality; Pathogenesis; Political activity; Political aspects; Pork; Ratios; Seroepidemiologic Studies; Serology; Studies; Switzerland - epidemiology; Transfusion; Veterinary Science; Viruses; Young Adult; Switzerland; England; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Asia
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021150

The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of Hepatitis E virus (HEV) among blood donors in southwest Switzerland. HEV is recognized as a food-borne disease in industrialized countries, transmitted mainly through pork meat. Cases of transmission through blood transfusion have also been reported. Recent studies have revealed seroprevalence rates of 13.5%, 16.6% and 20.6% among blood donors in England, France and Denmark, respectively. We analyzed 550 consecutive blood donor samples collected in the region of Lausanne, canton of Vaud, Switzerland, for the presence of anti-HEV IgG, using the MP Diagnostics HEV ELISA kit. For each donor, we documented age, sex and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) value. The study panel was composed of 332 men (60.4%) and 218 women (39.6%). Overall, anti-HEV IgG was found in 27 of 550 samples (4.9%). The seroprevalence was 5.4% (18/332) in men and 4.1% (9/218) in women. The presence of anti-HEV IgG was not correlated with age, gender or ALT values. However, we observed a peak in seroprevalence of 5.3% in individuals aged 51 to 70 years old. Compared with other European countries, HEV seroprevalence among blood donors in southwest Switzerland is low. The low seroprevalence may be explained by the sensitivity of commercial tests used and/or the strict regulation of animal and meat imports. Data regarding HEV prevalence in Swiss livestock are lacking and merit exploration.