AJTMH Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 78(6), 2008, pp. 1012-1015
Copyright © 2008 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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SHORT REPORT


Occupational Exposure to Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) in Swine Workers

Carolina Galiana, Salceda Fernández-Barredo, Angel García, María Teresa Gómez, AND Maria Teresa Pérez-Gracia*
Departamento de Atención Sanitaria, Salud Pública y Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales y de la Salud, Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, Moncada, Valencia, Spain

 

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work was to study the prevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) and the risk factors for the acquisition of the virus in a population in contact with swine and unexposed to swine. A total of 198 individuals, 97 unexposed (49%) and 101 exposed (51%) to swine, were tested for the presence of HEV infection. The prevalence of anti-HEV IgG in the exposed group was 18.8% versus 4.1% in the unexposed to swine group. People exposed to swine were observed to be 5.4 times (P = 0.03) at risk of having anti-HEV IgG. Ten (52.6%) of the IgG-positive individuals showed two concomitant risk factors: untreated water consumption and exposure to swine. These data support that HEV infection should be treated as a vocational illness in swine workers. Therefore, systematic application of hygiene measures in this collective is highly recommended to avoid the exposition to this virus.

Received October 16, 2007. Accepted for publication January 3, 2008.

Financial support: This project was supported by UCH-CEU (PRUCH 06/21), EVES (053/2005), and Generalitat Valenciana (GV05/132).

* Address correspondence to M. T. Pérez-Gracia, Departamento de Atención Sanitaria, Salud Pública y Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales y de la Salud, Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, Avenida Seminario s/n 46113, Moncada, Valencia, Spain. E-mail: teresa{at}uch.ceu.es

Authors’ addresses: Carolina Galiana, Salceda Fernández-Barredo, Angel García, María Teresa Gómez, and Maria Teresa Pérez-Gracia, Area Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales y de la Salud, Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, Avenida Seminario s/n 46113, Moncada, Valencia, Spain.






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Copyright © 2008 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.