BEIJING, June 7 -- Local medical experts are reporting that pigs can
transmit hepatitis E virus to people who work closely with pigs, but also to
those who live downstream of swine farms.
People with the most long-term close contact with pigs have a 182-percent
increased risk of infection compared with people in non-swine farm occupations,
said researchers of Fudan University's Public Health College.
People who live downstream of swine farms have a nearly 30 percent
increased risk of infection compared to those living upstream, the researchers
reported in the June 15 electronic issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases,
a leading American public health journal.
The virus is transmitted by contact with pigs or pig waste, including in
water exposed to pigs.
Fudan's Dr Zheng Yingjie and Jiang Qingwu found that 9 percent of farm pigs
carry hepatitis E virus.
The research result showed that the risk of infection increases by 84
percent for people who work on pig farms for between five to 14 years.
(Source: Shanghai Daily)
