The simultaneous occurrence of human norovirus and hepatitis E virus in a Norway rat ( Rattus norvegicus )
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BRIEF REPORT
The simultaneous occurrence of human norovirus and hepatitis E virus in a Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) Sandro Wolf • Jochen Reetz • Reimar Johne Ann-Charlotte Heiberg • Samuel Petri • Hanna Kanig • Rainer G. Ulrich
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Received: 20 December 2012 / Accepted: 21 January 2013 / Published online: 27 February 2013 Ó Springer-Verlag Wien 2013
Abstract Wild rats can be reservoirs and vectors for several human pathogens. An initial RT-PCR screening of the intestinal contents of Norway rats trapped in the sewer system of Copenhagen, Denmark, for caliciviruses revealed the presence of a human norovirus in one of 11 rodents. Subsequent phylogenetic analysis of the *4.0-kb 30 -terminus of the norovirus genome resulted in the identification of a recombinant GI.b/GI.6 strain. The simultaneous detection of hepatitis E virus-like particles in the feces of this rat by transmission electron microscopy was confirmed by RT-PCR and sequence determination, resulting in the identification of a novel rat hepatitis E virus.
Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) have a global distribution and live in close proximity to humans and human feces. Rats may therefore consume or contaminate human food products and can be reservoirs and vectors of several pathogens, including Leptospira spp., Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp. [1, 2]. Noroviruses are considered to
S. Wolf (&) H. Kanig Institute for Microbiology, Technische Universita¨t Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany e-mail: [email protected] J. Reetz R. Johne Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Diedersdorfer Weg 1, 12277 Berlin, Germany A.-C. Heiberg AC Heiberg Ra˚dgivning, 4440 Mørkøv, Denmark S. Petri R. G. Ulrich Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Institute for Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany
be the single most common etiological agent of non-bacterial gastroenteritis in humans [3]. Noroviruses are also known to cause severe diseases in immunocompromised laboratory mice and have recently been detected in wild mice and rats [4, 5]. So far, all known rodent norovirus strains belong to genogroup V. Genogroup V noroviruses are genetically distant from human noroviruses, which have only been found in genogroups I, II and IV. Recently, rat-associated hepatitis E virus (ratHEV) has been identified in wild rats in Germany, the US and Vietnam using serological methods, RT-PCR and real-time RTPCR [6–11]. Although this genotype was shown to be unable to infect non-human primates [8], results from a serosurvey of forestry workers in Germany may suggest a human transmission of ratHEV or a related virus [12]. Here, we report the simultaneous detection of a genogroup I norovirus and ratHEV in a Norway rat, using reverse-transcription PCR, quantitative reverse-transcription PCR and transmission electron microscopy, including conventional negative staining (NS) with uranyl acetate and immunogold electron microscopy. As part of an ongoing survey for rodent-borne pathogens in Europe, 11 Norway ra
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