Hepatitis E virus and porcine-derived heparin

Cases of sporadic, locally acquired hepatitis E have been increasingly identified in industrialized countries over the last few years (1). In this setting, hepatitis E is thought to be a zoonotic infection, with pigs as the primary host. Consumption of uncooked or lightly cooked pork meat products is thought to be a key route of infection, but other routes of transmission have been documented (2)