title: Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis A in St. Petersburg, Russia, 1997-2003.
abstract: The molecular epidemiology of hepatitis A virus (HAV) strains circulating in the St. Petersburg and Karelia regions was studied during 1997-2003. Hepatitis A virus RNA was isolated from both clinical samples (stools or sera) and environmental samples (sewage water). RT-PCR was carried out using different primer pairs from the VP1/2A and VP1 genomic regions, the variable parts of the HAV genome. PCR products were sequenced and 306 nucleotides from the VP1/2A and 332 nucleotides from the VP1 region were used for phylogenetic analysis. The results show that the IA subtype was the most common during the follow-up period: >90% of the isolated HAV strains belonged to that subtype. The HAV strains found in intravenous drug users belonged to subtypes IA and IIIA. Only one out of a total of 88 sequenced strains was of the IB subtype. The subtypes IB and IIIA were found only in 2001-2003, which suggests that new strains were introduced into the endemic situation. The results indicate the usefulness of molecular epidemiological methods in studying changes in the circulating HAV strains and in tracing transmission routes.
authors: National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland. irja.davidkin@ktl.fi
authors: Irja
authors: I
authors: Davidkin
authors: Nina
authors: N
authors: Zheleznova
authors: Sari
authors: S
authors: Jokinen
authors: Olga
authors: O
authors: Gorchakova
authors: Mia
authors: M
authors: Broman
authors: Sergey
authors: S
authors: Mukomolov
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005838:Genotype; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D030041:Hepatitis A virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012426:Russia / Q000453:epidemiology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D044967:Serum / Q000821:virology; D012722:Sewage / Q000821:virology; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D012722:Sewage; C096539:VP1 protein, hepatitis A virus; D014764:Viral Proteins; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; C057400:picornain 2A, Picornavirus