ABSENCE OF HEPATITIS E VIRUS CIRCULATION AMONG EUROPEAN BROWN HARE DURING 2015 IN TWO BULGARIAN DISTRICT

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the presence of zoonotic hepatitis E virus genotype 3 (HEV-3) in 43 liver samples from European Brown Hares in two administrative regions of Bulgaria (Plovdiv and Burgas) in 2015. Nested and Real time RT-PCR were used for HEV nucleic acid detection. In addition, liver transudate was tested for the presence of anti-HEV class IgG antibodies by ELISA (ID Screen® Hepatitis E Indirect Multi-species, IDVet, Grabels, France) following the manufacturer's protocol. No positive samples for the presence of nucleic acid were proven in the current research by nested and Real time RT-PCR. Anti-HEV antibodies were also not detected. Further studies need to be conducted to assess the presence of the virus in the European Brown Hare population in Bulgaria in order to establish the role of this host in the epidemiology of the disease in humans as well.