Abstract
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a zoonotic pathogen, causing infectious hepatitis in man. Pigs and wild boars are the natural asymptomatic reservoirs, while the disease in humans could be either asymptomatic or evolve in hepatitis. In Europe, an increasing number of human infections from HEV has been reported over the last years. Up to now, HEV prevalence in Italian northern Regions has been extensively determined in wild boars and pigs, while less data have been collected from the central-southern ones, especially in wild animals. Moreover, the Abruzzo Region located in central Italy is considered a hot spot for HEV human infections and Molise Region, located in southern Italy and close to Abruzzo, should be also taken in consideration. The aim of this study was to investigate the circulation of HEV in different animal species from Abruzzo and Molise Regions, central-southern Italy. Liver, gallbladder and faeces samples were collected from pigs coming from closed farms or kept free-ranging and from hunted wild boars. Liver samples from other wild species were also considered. Overall, RNA from HEV virus was detected in 336 samples out of the 4,486 collected during the 2015-2021 period (7.5%, CI 6.8% - 8.3%). Animal species in which HEV genome was detected were wild boars (10.3%, CI 9.2% - 11.6%), domestic swine (5.6%, CI 4.6% - 6.9%), roe deer (2.2%, CI 1.0% - 4.8%), deer (2.4%, CI 0.7% - 8.3%), and badger (1.7%, CI 0.4 – 9.1). The positivity in liver samples was higher than in faeces, which was higher than in gallbladder. The higher number of positive samples was found in wild boars, and especially in liver. The results of this study suggest that HEV infection seems to be endemic in the wild boars living the two Regions under study. The detection of HEV RNA in other non-target species, such as roe deer, deer, and badgers also warrant consideration in surveillance programs and in estimating the risk for HEV human infections.