3. Study design
3.1. Samples
Serum samples from 859 healthy subjects were collected from October 2011 to April 2012 to determine the seroprevalence and associated risk factors in humans of Hepatitis E virus (HEV), a pig virus responsible of human infections [9]. Subjects were interviewed using a structured questionnaire to establish their socio-economic status, type of occupation and risk factors. Of this population, 842 samples were still available to investigate the transmission of SPaV1 to humans and evaluate the associated risk factors. This population is composed of 321 individuals that worked in the service sector, 301 were pig farm workers and 220 were forestry workers.
Another set of serum samples was studied to investigate potential link of SPaV1 infection with type 1 diabetes: serum samples from 20 adults (34.4 ± 20 years-old range 17–62 years) and 19 children (7.6 ± 5 years-old range 2–14) with type 1 diabetes, and 20 individuals without type 1 diabetes (37 ± 12 years-old range 13–63) were also investigated.