Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection can cause acute and chronic hepatitis in humans. The zoonotic HEV genotype 3, which is highly prevalent in Europe, is mainly transmitted by consumption of raw meat and raw meat products produced from infected pigs or wild boars. High salt concentrations represent an important measure to preserve meat products and to inactivate foodborne pathogens. Here, an HEV preparation in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was subjected to different salt concentrations and the remaining infectivity was measured in a cell culture assay. Treatments with up to 20% sodium chloride for 24 h at 23 °C, with and without addition of 0.015% sodium nitrite or 0.03% sodium nitrate, did not lead to virus inactivation as compared to PBS only. Conditions usually applied for short-term and long-term fermented raw sausages were simulated by incubation at 22 °C for up to 6 days and at 16 °C for up to 8 weeks, respectively. Only 2% sodium chloride with 0.015% sodium nitrite showed a weak (< 1 log₁₀), but significant, infectivity reduction after 2 and 4 days as compared to PBS only. Addition of 2% sodium chloride and 0.03% sodium nitrate showed a slight, but not significant, decrease in infectivity after 2 and 8 weeks as compared to PBS only. In conclusion, HEV is highly stable at high salt concentrations and at salt conditions usually applied to preserve raw meat products.

戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）感染可导致人类急性和慢性肝炎。人畜共患性HEV基因型3在欧洲非常流行，主要通过食用受感染的猪或野猪生产的生肉和生肉产品传播。高盐浓度代表了保存肉制品和灭活食源性病原体的重要措施。在此，将磷酸盐缓冲盐水（PBS）中的HEV制剂置于不同的盐浓度下，并通过细胞培养测定法测量剩余的感染性。与仅使用PBS相比，在23°C下用高达20％的氯化钠处理24小时，无论是否添加0.015％的亚硝酸钠或0.03％的硝酸钠，都不会导致病毒灭活。通常分别用于短期和长期发酵生香肠的条件是通过分别在22°C孵育6天和16°C孵育8周来模拟的。只有2％的氯化钠和0.015％的亚硝酸钠显示出弱（<1 log₁₀），但与仅PBS相比，在2天和4天后感染力显着降低。与仅PBS相比，添加2％氯化钠和0.03％硝酸钠显示2周和8周后感染性略有降低，但不显着。总之，HEV在高盐浓度和通常用于保存生肉产品的盐条件下具有高度稳定性。