抄録
We used 85 stool samples from pet ferrets at 10 animal hospitals in Japan for the detection of ferret HEV RNA. We found that six (7.1%) of the samples were positive for ferret HEV RNA. A phylogenetic analysis based on the partial ORF1 indicated that these ferret HEV strains were clearly separated from the Netherlands strains and classified into two distinct clusters suggesting that ferret HEV is genetically diverse. Since the ferret is not a domestic animal species in Japan, ferret HEV was introduced through importation.
