Journal of Clinical Virology - Volume 82 - Supplement 1 - September 2016

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Abstracts / Journal of Clinical Virology 82S (2016) S1–S142 S71
Abstract no: 211
Presentation at ESCV 2016: Poster 100
Hepatitis E virus subgenotypes 3i and 3f in
wastewater of treatment plants of Portugal
A.M. Matos ∗ , J.R. Mesquita , D. Gonc¸ alves ,
J. Abreu-Silva , C. Luxo , M.S.J. Nascimento
1 Laboratório de Virologia, Grupo das Biociências
Clínicas e Aplicadas, Faculdade de Farmácia da
Universidade de Coimbra, Centro de Investigac¸ ão em
Engenharia dos Processos Químicos e dos Produtos
da Floresta (CIEPQF), Coimbra, Portugal
2 Escola Superior Agrária de Viseu, Instituto
Politécnico de Viseu, Viseu, Portugal
3 Laboratório de Virologia, Grupo das Biociências
Clínicas e Aplicadas, Faculdade de Farmácia da
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
4 Laboratório de Microbiologia, Departamento de
Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia da
Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
Introduction: Genotype 3 hepatitis E virus (HEV3) is
widespread in industrialized countries and infection in humans is
mostly the result of foodborne zoonotic transmission from swine,
considered the most important animal reservoir for human dis-
ease ince HEV is excreted in human and animal stools, it has
the potential to be introduced in aquatic environments through
urban and agriculture runoff, sewage outfall and vessel wastewater
discharge. The involvement of water in the transmission of HEV3
infection is uncertain but this hypothesis has been drawing increas-
ing attention fromthe scientific community erein, we describe
the first detection and molecular characterization of HEV3 isolates
retrieved from Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) of Portugal.
Materials and methods: A total of 60 influent and effluent
wastewater samples from 15 WWTP, located in the 5 Portuguese
regions, namely North, Centre, Lisboa and Vale do Tejo, Alentejo
and Algarve were studied. From each WWTP, time proportional
24-h composite influent (N = 1) and effluent (N = 1) samples were
collected in September and in December 2013. Viral concentration
was performed according to the previously described method
A broad RT-qPCR probe assay targeting the open reading frame
(ORF) 2 region of the HEV was performed amples positive by
RT-qPCR were submitted to a nested broad-spectrum RT-PCR with
amplification within the ORF1 region of HEV genome
Results: HEV RNA was detected in 2 of the 60 wastewater sam-
ples tested. They were both influent wastewater samples collected
in December, one from a WWTP located in the North, and the other
located in the Centre of Portugal. Phylogenetic analysis showed
that both isolates belonged to genotype 3 but clustering in dif-
ferent subgenotypes, namely 3i and 3f. These isolates presented
only 79.2% nucleotide sequence homology, showing genetic het-
erogeneity among environmental isolates.
Discussion: Molecular diagnostic tools are known to be valuable
for environmental surveillance, assisting in the assessment of the
epidemiology of the circulating viral community in a given popu-
lation s far as we know this is the first study investigating the
presence of HEV in WWTPs of Portugal, and providing evidence of
the circulation of different HEV3 strains in this environment.
Reference
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[2] W.H. Van der Poel, Food and environmental routes of Hepatitis E virus
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[3] A. Rafique, S. Jiang, Genetic diversity of human polyomavirus JCPyV in
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[4] K.J. Rolfe, M.D. Curran, N. Mangrolia, et al., First case of genotype 4 human
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Abstract no: 225
Presentation at ESCV 2016: Poster 101
Seroprevalence of hepatitis B in children in
Konya region of Turkey
Fatma Esenkaya Tas¸ bent ∗, Mehmet Özdemir ,
Bahadır Feyzio˘glu hmut Baykan
1 Public Health Laboratory, Konya, Turkey
2 Necmettin Erbakan University, Meram Medical
Faculty, Konya, Turkey
Background: Routine hepatitis B vaccination program of Min-
istry of Health Services has been performed since 1998 in Turkey.
Since then Hepatitis B infection is gradually decreased as a result
of vaccination. We aimed to determine the ratio of anti-HBs and
HBsAg seropositivity in children who was born after implementa-
tion of hepatitis B vaccine.
Methods: Between 2013 January and 2016 January, children
aged 0–18 years, who were admitted to Konya Public Health Lab-
oratory, were included in this study. Venous blood samples were
tested for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and Hepatitis B sur-
face antibody (Anti-HBs) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: The rates of HBsAg and Anti-HBs were found 0.85% and
75% respectively in child. HBsAg prevalence was 0.7% in children
between 0 and 6 years; 0.9% between 6 and 12 years; 0.8% between
12 and 18 years old. Anti-HBs rate was 82.6% in children between 0
and 6 years; 70.3% between 6 and 12 years; 76.5 between 12 and 18
years old. Of HBsAg (+) children, 56% were females and 44% were
males.
Conclusion: National immunization scheme caused a sig-
nificant decrease in HBsAg positivity. The ratio of AntiHBs
seropositivity is increasing in subjects born after implementation
of hepatitis B vaccine, though not reached to targeted level yet.
Keywords: Anti-HBs, HBsAg, Seroprevalence, Children, Vacci-
nation.
Abstract no: 23
Presentation at ESCV 2016: Poster 102
Performance of the new Aptima HCV quant Dx
assay in comparison to the Cobas TaqMan HCV2
assay for use with the high pure system in the
detection and quantification of HCV RNA in
plasma or serum
G. Schalasta ∗, A. Speicher, A. Boerner, M. Enders
Labor Prof. G. Enders & Kollegen MVZ GbR, Stuttgart,
Germany
Quantitating the level of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA is the
standard of care for monitoring HCV-infected patients during treat-
ment. The performances of commercially available assays differ
for precision, limit of detection, and limit of quantitation. Here,