Genetic analysis of HAV strains isolated from patients with acute hepatitis in Korea, 2005-2006.
Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a causative agent of acute viral hepatitis, which represents a significant public health problem. HAV is usually transmitted by oral-fecal route and prevalent not only in developing countries but also in developed countries worldwide. To characterize the HAV wild type strains circulating in Korea, the VP3/VP1 and VP1/P2A junction regions were detected by RT-PCR from HAV IgM positives during 2005 and 2006. Among 160 HAV IgM positive sera, 30% (n = 48) were positive for HAV RNA. Additionally, the VP3/VP1 junction regions were detected all six stools, which collected from outbreak in Gyeonggi province. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences obtained from 54 distinct HAV isolates revealed that most of the strains (n = 45) belonged to genotype IA and the others including nine strains belonged to genotype IIIA. Interestingly, a Q --> S amino acid change was dominantly observed at position 810 of the VP1/P2A junction region in 14 isolates. The molecular epidemiology of HAV infection in Korea has changed with the co-circulation of at least two genotypes and 810Q --> S amino acid substitutions were found to be prevalent. These results strongly suggest that various HAV strains, including genotype IIIA, might be imported from high-endemic countries into Korea.
Yun
Haesun
H
Division of Enteric and Hepatitis Viruses, Center for Infectious Diseases, Korea National Institute of Health, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Kim
Soyeon
S
Lee
Hyeokjin
H
Byun
Kwan Soo
KS
Kwon
So Young
SY
Yim
Hyung Joon
HJ
Lim
Young-Suk
YS
Jeong
Sook-Hyang
SH
Jee
Youngmee
Y
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution / Q000235:genetics; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; 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; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology
D012367:RNA, Viral