First description of hepatitis E virus in Australian rabbits

M. Jenckel, R. N. Hall, T. Strive

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debatepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report the first detection of hepatitis E virus in rabbits in Australia. While conducting metatranscriptomic sequencing of liver samples collected from domestic rabbits that had died, we detected hepatitis E virus in three samples. Two viral genome sequences were obtained, which shared 96% nucleotide identity and clustered with hepatitis E strains isolated from rabbits and humans in Europe. This raises a potential public health risk in Australia, as the abundance of wild rabbits and the increasing popularity of domestic rabbits as pets represent a substantial human/rabbit interface to allow for potential zoonotic infections to occur.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)356-358
Number of pages3
JournalAustralian Veterinary Journal
Volume99
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2021

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