Naohito Urawa, Naohiko Yoshizawa, Yuji Kojima, Akira Hashimoto, Atsuya Shimizu, Takamitsu Tanaka, Shima Hamaoka, Soichiro Kobayashi, Tatsunori Nakano, Hiroshi Okano, Shigeo Nagashima, Masaharu Takahashi, Hiroaki Okamoto, Kazumoto Murata
Acta Hepatologica Japonica, 62(6) 384-386, Jun 1, 2021
In Mie Prefecture, autochthonous hepatitis E cases occurred via homologous hepatitis E virus subgenotype 3e (HEV-3e), namely, Mie indigenous HEV-3e, from 2004 through 2014. We experienced three cases of autochthonous hepatitis E in 2020 in Mie Prefecture, and analyzed the partial HEV genomes recovered from them. The three HEV isolates clustered with Mie indigenous HEV-3e in the phylogenetic tree and exhibited high similarities to it. Mie indigenous HEV-3e had thus reemerged for the first time in six years. One affected patient often consumed meat of wild animals, and another ate undercooked pork liver, although the third case had no clear risk factors. Mie indigenous HEV-3e appears to be maintained in wild animals or domestic pigs.