Molecular characterization of hepatitis A virus in children with fulminant hepatic failure in Argentina.
BACKGROUND
Hepatitis A infection, a vaccine-preventable disease, is an important cause of fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) in children in Argentina. Universal vaccination in 1-year-old children was implemented in June 2005. The limited studies about the correlation between the characteristics of the hepatitis A virus (HAV) and FHF have been carried out in adults.


METHODS
Samples from 41 children with FHF were studied from September 2003 to January 2006 and HAV RNA was detected, sequenced and analysed in the 5' non-coding region and VP1/2A region.


RESULTS
Eighteen HAV strains were characterized and found to be different at the nucleotide level from the self-limited acute infection strains that have been circulating in Argentina with no temporal or geographical pattern. They did not form a genetic cluster, but some of them were identical in the largest fragment characterized and some of them seemed to be more closely related in time and/or geographically.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that viral factors could be involved in the severity of the clinical presentation of HAV infection in children in Argentina.
Munné
María Silvina
MS
National Reference Laboratory in Viral Hepatitis, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Buenos Aires, Argentina. smunne@anlis.gov.ar
Vladimirsky
Sara
S
Moreiro
Rita
R
Ciocca
Mirta
M
Cuarterolo
Miriam
M
Otegui
Lucio
L
Soto
Sonia
S
Brajterman
Leonardo
L
Castro
Raúl
R
Sasbón
Jorge
J
Gianivelli
Silvina
S
Buamscha
Daniel
D
Quarleri
Jorge
J
González
Jorge E
JE
D000293:Adolescent; D001118:Argentina; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics; D017957:Hepatitis A Virus, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000209:etiology* / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA
D012313:RNA