Objectives: We aimed at evaluating the contamination by hepatitis A virus (HAV) of 54 shellfish samples collected from five Tunisian shellfish harvesting areas and finding a correlation between bacterial and viral contamination.
Material and methods: Fifty-four shellfish samples were analysed in our study. Two methods of viral extraction were evaluated by reverse transcription-nested PCR. The first one was based on elution by glycine solution and the second one used a beef extract solution. Bacteriological determination (Samonella and E. coli) was carried out for all shellfish samples.
Results: Glycine extraction showed a higher detection rate of HAV compared to the saline beef extraction method. The hepatitis A virus was detected in 32 % of shellfish samples analysed. None of the samples revealed the presence of Samonella. From 17 samples positive for HAV, we found six samples showing a number of E. coli below the European legislation.
Conclusion: An important HAV contamination was observed in our study. No correlation between bacterial and viral contamination was found.
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