Novel Arterivirus Associated with Outbreak of Fatal Encephalitis in European Hedgehogs, England, 2019.

In the fall of 2019, a fatal encephalitis outbreak led to the deaths of >200 European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in England. We used next-generation sequencing to identify a novel arterivirus with a genome coding sequence of only 43% similarity to existing GenBank arterivirus sequences.

Widespread diffusion of genotype 3 hepatitis E virus among farming swine in Northern Italy.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) causes acute hepatitis in humans, and infects several animal species, mostly asymptomatically. Swine and human HEV strains are genetically related suggesting both a zoonotic and a possible foodborne transmission. The prevalence of swine HEV was investigated in 274 randomly selected pigs from six different swine farms of Northern Italy, testing viral RNA in stools by nested reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction. HEV genome was detected in 115 stools (42%). All farms resulted positive for HEV, with a prevalence ranging between 12.8% and 72.5%. HEV-positive pigs were detected in all age groups and production stages tested, although infection was more prevalent in weaners than in the older fatteners (42.2% vs. 27.0%). Genetic characterization of swine strains identified was performed by sequencing and database alignment. Phylogenetic analysis on the nucleotide sequences from 16 positive PCR products indicated that all strains belonged to genotype 3. In particular, one group of seven Italian strains clustered close (91.6-96.2% identity) to human and swine European HEV strains.

European multicenter evaluation of commercial enzyme immunoassays for detecting norovirus antigen in fecal samples.

A total of 2,254 fecal samples were tested in a European multicenter evaluation of commercially available norovirus antigen detection assays. Two commercial enzyme immunoassays, IDEIA Norovirus (Oxoid; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Ely, United Kingdom) and RIDASCREEN Norovirus (R-Biopharm, Darmstadt, Germany), were included in the evaluation, and their performance was compared with the results of reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). Included in the evaluation were samples collected in sporadic cases of gastroenteritis, samples from outbreaks in which two or more samples were collected, well-characterized samples representing genotypes currently cocirculating within Europe, and samples collected from patients with gastroenteritis caused by a pathogen other than norovirus. The sensitivities and specificities of the IDEIA Norovirus and RIDASCREEN Norovirus assays were 58.93 and 43.81% and 93.91 and 96.37%, respectively, compared with RT-PCR. The sensitivities of both assays for outbreak investigations improved when six or more samples from an outbreak were examined. The IDEIA Norovirus assay exhibited reactivity to a broader range of norovirus genotypes than the RIDASCREEN Norovirus assay, which showed genotype-dependent sensitivities. The results indicate that, if used, these assays should serve as screening assays and the results should be confirmed by RT-PCR.