title: Clinical and molecular characteristics of hepatitis A virus infections during the years 1992-2003 in Ogaki, a centrally located city of Japan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The emergence of imported hepatitis A virus (HAV) strains from other regions is a feature of acute hepatitis A in developed countries as well as the decrease in number of cases.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Between 1992 and 2003 we investigated the clinical and molecular characteristics of acute HAV infections experienced at a single institution located in a middle city of Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 172 patients were admitted to our institution between 1992 and 2003 with the diagnosis of acute hepatitis A. Clinical features of hepatitis and molecular epidemiology were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of patients with acute hepatitis A markedly decreased during the study period. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all analyzed HAV strains belonged to HAV genotype IA. HAV strains clustered into four groups and strains of patients belonging to a cluster presented with HAV infection with an interval of more than 4 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Several identical or closely related HAV strains with high homology continue to circulate in Ogaki, Japan, during a 12-year period, causing sporadic cases of acute hepatitis A infection with strains of genotype IA HAV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Ogaki Municipal Hospital, 4-86 Manaminokawa, Ogaki, Gifu 503-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidenori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Toyoda
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kumada
authors.forename: Seiki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kiriyama
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sone
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanikawa
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hisanaga
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kanamori
authors.forename: Chiung-Ling
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Hsin-Fu
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology*; D030041:Hepatitis A virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral