title: Molecular characterization of hepatitis A virus in children with fulminant hepatic failure in Argentina.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory in Viral Hepatitis, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Buenos Aires, Argentina. smunne@anlis.gov.ar
authors.forename: María Silvina
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Munné
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vladimirsky
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moreiro
authors.forename: Mirta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciocca
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cuarterolo
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Otegui
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soto
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brajterman
authors.forename: Raúl
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sasbón
authors.forename: Silvina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gianivelli
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Buamscha
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quarleri
authors.forename: Jorge E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: González
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D012313:RNA