Detection and Characterization of Homologues of Human Hepatitis Viruses and Pegiviruses in Rodents and Bats in Vietnam

Van Nguyen, Dung; Van Nguyen, Cuong; Bonsall, David; Ngo, Tue Tri; Carrique-Mas, Juan; Pham, Anh Hong; Bryant, Juliet E.; Thwaites, Guy; Baker, Stephen; Woolhouse, Mark; Simmonds, Peter

Nucleic acid that was extracted from liver samples of 157 bats (29 species; Table S1 ) and 470 rodents (six species) was screened for pegivirus and human hepatitis B, C, E viruses and their homologues ( Table 1 ) by nested and semi-nested PCR assays with degenerate primers. Hepaciviruses were the most commonly detected (8.1% of rodent samples, from three species), followed by hepatitis E related virus (3% of rodent samples, from four species) while hepatitis B related viral DNA was only detectable in three bats (2 species). Most of the hepacivirus positive samples were from farmed hoary bamboo rats in Dak Lak province although the predominantly sampled rat species was Rattus argentiventer. Coinfection with hepacivirus and HEV was observed in a sample from Rattus losea. All liver samples from bats were negative for hepacivirus and hepatitis E related virus and no sample was positive for pegivirus. and 335 other rats whose liver samples were screened for hepacivirus as above. Hepacivirus RNA was only detected in serum samples of 10 bamboo rats with positive liver samples. Pegivirus RNA was detected in two samples from Rattus tanezumi.