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Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a prevalent pathogen responsible for acute viral hepatitis, HEV genotypes 3 and 4 infections causing zoonotic infections. Currently, the nucleotide similarity analysis between humans and pigs for HEV genotype 4 is limited. In this study, stool samples from an HEV‐infected patient who is a pig farmer and from pigs were collected to obtain the near full‐length genome of HEV, phylogenetic trees were constructed for genotyping, and similarity of HEV sequences was analyzed. The results showed that HEV‐RNA was detected in the stool samples from the patient and six pigs (6/30, 20.0%). Both HEV subtype in the patient and pigs was 4b. Additionally, similarity analysis showed that the range was 99.875%–99.944% between the patient and pigs at the nucleotide level. Four isolates of amino acid sequences (ORFs 1–3) from pigs were 100% identical to the patient. Phylogenetic tree and similarity analysis of an additional nine HEV sequences isolated from other patients in this region showed that the HEV sequence from the pig farmer had the closest relationship with the pigs from his farm rather than other sources of infection in this region. This study provides indirect evidences for HEV subtype 4b can be transmitted from pigs to humans at the nucleotide level. Further research is needed to explore the characteristics of different HEV subtypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The epidemiology of hepatitis D virus (HDV) in China is fairly unknown. The mechanisms whereby HDV leads to accelerated liver disease in hepatitis B virus (HBV)/HDV co-infected patients and the histological characteristics of chronic hepatitis D (CHD) patients need further investigation. Methods: The prevalence of HDV was retrospectively evaluated in all consecutive hospitalized patients with chronic HBV infection from May 2005 to October 2011. HBV/HDV co-infected patients and HBV mono-infected patients were compared clinically and histologically. Significant histological abnormality was defined as significant necroinflammation (grade ≥A2) and/or significant fibrosis (stage ≥ F2). Results: 6.5% of patients (426/6604) tested positive for IgM anti-HDV. HDV was more common in patients over 50 years old than those under 50 (11.7% vs. 5.1%, P<0.001). HBV/HDV co-infected patients had higher frequencies of end-stage liver disease (ESLD) than HBV mono-infected patients, and HDV co-infection was an independent risk factor for ESLD (OR: 1.428, 95%CI: 1.116–1.827; P = 0.005). The HBV DNA levels in the HBV/HDV group were significantly lower than the HBV group in chronic hepatitis patients (median: 6.50 log10copies/mL vs 6.80 log10copies/mL, P = 0.003), but higher than the HBV group in ESLD patients (median: 5.73 log10copies/mL vs 5.16 log10copies/mL, P<0.001). When stratified by alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level, 46.7%, 56.5% and 80.5% of CHD patients had significant necroinflammation and 86.7%, 87.0% and 90.3% had significant fibrosis with ALT 1–2×upper limit normal (ULN), 2–5×ULN and>5×ULN respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of HDV is not low in patients with chronic HBV infection. HDV may contribute to progression to ESLD through late-phase HBV DNA reactivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]