TY - JOUR
T1 - Hepatitis E virus genotype 3 in echinoderms
T2 - first report of sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) contamination
AU - Santos-Ferreira, Nânci
AU - Mesquita, João Rodrigo
AU - Rivadulla, Enrique
AU - Inácio, Ângela S.
AU - Martins da Costa, Paulo
AU - Romalde, Jesus L.
AU - Nascimento, Maria São José
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Structured R&D&I Project INNOVMAR – “ Innovation and Sustainability in the Management and Exploitation of Marine Resources ” (ref. NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000035) within the research line “INSEAFOOD - Innovation and valorisation of seafood products: meeting local challenges and opportunities”, founded by the Northern Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020) through the European Regional Development Fund ( ERDF ), and grant 2014-PG110 from the Xunta de Galicia (Spain). Authors would like to acknowledge Francisco Arenas group for the sea urchin collection.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Structured R&D&I Project INNOVMAR ? ?Innovation and Sustainability in the Management and Exploitation of Marine Resources? (ref. NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000035) within the research line ?INSEAFOOD - Innovation and valorisation of seafood products: meeting local challenges and opportunities?, founded by the Northern Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020) through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and grant 2014-PG110 from the Xunta de Galicia (Spain). Authors would like to acknowledge Francisco Arenas group for the sea urchin collection.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/8
Y1 - 2020/8
N2 - Hepatitis E virus (HEV) deriving from manure application runoffs and faecal waste spill over of swine and human origin bypass wastewater treatment plants and contaminate coastal waters. Shellfish bioaccumulate enteric viruses such as HEV from fecally contaminated coastal waters and under current European Regulations, shellfish sanitary status surveillance is mandatory but only by means of bacterial faecal indicators. The sea urchins are under the same regulations and their vulnerability to fecal contamination has been pointed out. Since they are consumed raw and with no steps to control/reduce hazards, sea urchin contamination with enteric viruses can represent a food safety risk. Hence, the aim of the present study was to screen sea urchin gonads destined for human consumption for the presence of HEV. HEV was detected and quantified in gonads of sea urchins collected in north Portugal by a reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assay targeting the ORF3 region, followed by genotyping by a nested RT-PCR targeting the ORF2 region. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis clustered the HEV sequence within genotype 3, subgenotype e. This the first study reporting HEV contamination of sea urchins. We hypothesize that like shellfish, sea urchins can also be a food vehicle for HEV transmission to humans.
AB - Hepatitis E virus (HEV) deriving from manure application runoffs and faecal waste spill over of swine and human origin bypass wastewater treatment plants and contaminate coastal waters. Shellfish bioaccumulate enteric viruses such as HEV from fecally contaminated coastal waters and under current European Regulations, shellfish sanitary status surveillance is mandatory but only by means of bacterial faecal indicators. The sea urchins are under the same regulations and their vulnerability to fecal contamination has been pointed out. Since they are consumed raw and with no steps to control/reduce hazards, sea urchin contamination with enteric viruses can represent a food safety risk. Hence, the aim of the present study was to screen sea urchin gonads destined for human consumption for the presence of HEV. HEV was detected and quantified in gonads of sea urchins collected in north Portugal by a reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assay targeting the ORF3 region, followed by genotyping by a nested RT-PCR targeting the ORF2 region. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis clustered the HEV sequence within genotype 3, subgenotype e. This the first study reporting HEV contamination of sea urchins. We hypothesize that like shellfish, sea urchins can also be a food vehicle for HEV transmission to humans.
KW - Food safety
KW - Hepatitis E virus
KW - Paracentrotus lividus
KW - Sea urchin
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077921465&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.fm.2020.103415
DO - 10.1016/j.fm.2020.103415
M3 - Article
C2 - 32138985
AN - SCOPUS:85077921465
SN - 0740-0020
VL - 89
JO - Food Microbiology
JF - Food Microbiology
M1 - 103415
ER -
