Seroprevalence and evolutionary dynamics of genotype 4 hepatitis E virus in Shandong Province, China

Table 1 Prevalence of hepatitis E virus antibodies and RNA in the general human population in Shandong Province, China in 2011

Type of antibody	Positive samples/total analyzed of HEV antibodies, 95%CI	Positive samples/total analyzed of RNA, 95%CI
IgG+/IgM-	473/2028 (23.3%), (21-25)	0/473, -
IgM+	51/2028 (2.5%), (2-3)	2/51, (3.9%), (89-100)

HEV: Hepatitis E virus.

Table 2 Relation between age and positivity of hepatitis E virus-specific antibodies n (%)

Age (yr)	Participants-n	IgG positive	95%CI	IgM positive	95%CI
2-19	453	51 (11.3)	(8.3-14.2)	-	-
20-39	732	165 (22.5)	(19.5-25.6)	17 (2.3)	(1.2-3.4)
40-59	625	220 (35.2)	(31.5-38.9)	24 (3.8)	(2.3-5.3)
≥ 60	218	73 (33.5)	(27.2-39.8)	10 (4.6)	(1.8-7.4)
Total	2028	509 (25.1)	(23.2-27.0)	51 (2.5)	(1.8-3.2)

Table 3 Hepatitis E virus loads in patient fecal samples and swine bile samples

Sample origin	Positive sample numbers and HEV loads
	RT-nPCR (+)/RT-qPCR(+)	RT-nPCR (-)/RT-qPCR (+)
Patients	12, 6.81 × 104-1.53 × 107 copies/mL	8, 6.75 × 102-1.35 × 103 copies/mL
Swine	4, 4.92 × 106-5.46 × 107 copies/mL	-

The HEV loads were detected by RT-qPCR. Only one patient sample’s HEV load was 1.53 × 10⁷ copies/mL, while the HEV loads of other samples were less than 4.92 × 10⁶ copies/mL. HEV: Hepatitis E virus.