Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the causative agent of foodborne infections occurring in high income countries mainly by consumption of undercooked and raw pork products. The virus is zoonotic with pigs and wild boars as the main reservoirs. Several studies proved the presence of HEV-RNA in pork liver sausages, pâté and other pork by-products. However, the detection of HEV nucleic acids does not necessary correspond to infectious virus and information on the persistence of the virus in the food is still limited. To which extent and how long the virus can survive after conventional industrial and home-made conservation and cooking procedures is largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated the persistence of two subtypes of HEV-3, by measuring the viral RNA on cell supernatant of infected A549 cells, after long-term storage at +4 °C and −20 °C and after heating for short or long-time span. Results confirmed that either low temperature storage (+4 °C) or freezing (−20 °C) do not influence the survival of the virus, and only a moderate reduction of presence of its RNA after 12 weeks at +4 °C was observed. To the other side, heating at 56 °C for long time (1 h) or at higher temperatures (>65 °C) for shorter time inactivated the virus successfully.

中文翻译：

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戊型肝炎病毒 (HEV) 3c 和 3e 亚型的持久性：长期冷藏和热处理

戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）是高收入国家食源性感染的病原体，主要通过食用未煮熟的生猪肉产品而发生。该病毒是人畜共患的，猪和野猪是主要宿主。多项研究证明猪肝香肠、肉酱和其他猪肉副产品中存在 HEV-RNA。然而，HEV 核酸的检测并不一定对应于传染性病毒，并且有关病毒在食品中持续存在的信息仍然有限。经过传统的工业和自制保存和烹饪程序后，病毒能够存活的程度和时间在很大程度上尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们通过测量受感染的 A549 细胞在 +4 °C 和 -20 °C 长期储存以及短暂加热后的细胞上清液中的病毒 RNA，研究了 HEV-3 两种亚型的持久性。或时间跨度较长。结果证实，低温储存（+4°C）或冷冻（-20°C）都不影响病毒的存活，并且在+4°C下12周后仅观察到其RNA的存在适度减少。另一方面，在56℃下长时间加热（1小时）或在更高温度（>65℃）下加热较短时间可以成功灭活病毒。