OBJECTIVETo investigate the seroprevalence of HEV infection and genotype.

METHODSELISA were used for detecting anti-HEV IgG of the serum samples, the nested reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-nPCR) was used for detecting HEV RNA in patient serum and swine bile samples. All samples were collected in 2005-2007 in some districts in Sichuan province. The primers used for genotyping were the ORF2 region of HEV genome.

RESULTSThe anti-HEV IgG was detected positive in childrens 6.10% (41/672), adults 42.26% (280/ 661), swines 88.89% (32/36), chickens negative (0/59). 1 case of 15 serum samples of anti-HEV IgM positive and 3 of 54 swine bile samples were positive for HEV RNA by RT-PCR.Sequence analysis of 4 isolates has 92.1% to 98.6% nucleotide sequence homology. These isolates from human and swine were identified closely related to Ch-T21 strain 90.1%-96.9% sequence homology, which belonged to HEV genotype 4B.

CONCLUSIONSThe swine were the risk factors in the spread of hepatitis E virus.