title: Molecular characterization of hepatitis A virus isolated from acute gastroenteritis patients in the Seoul region of Korea.
abstract: Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a major public health problem throughout the world. As a result of declining HAV endemic in Korea, an increasing number of children and adolescents have become susceptible to HAV infection. HAV is related with sanitation conditions of the environment and is transmitted via the fecal-oral route, either through person-to-person contact or by contaminated water and food. The present study has been carried out to determine the phylogenetic analysis and circulating patterns of HAV strains detected from hospitalized patients with acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in the Seoul region of Korea. In total, 2,782 stool specimens from hospitalized patients with AGE collected in October 2006 to September 2007 in Seoul were tested for HAV. A pair comparison of the nucleic acid sequence of a 159-bp base region at the putative VP1/2A junction of 85 Seoul isolates revealed that the most common HAV strain circulating in the region during 2006-2007 was subgenotype IA. HAV phylogenetic studies can provide important information on the genetic characteristics of HAV from AGE patients who may subsequently become the source of infection in Korea.
authors.affiliation: Virus Team, Seoul Metropolitan Government Research Institute of Public Health and Environment, 202-3, Yangjae-Dong, Seocho-Gu, Seoul, 137-734, Republic of Korea. sanghun7@hanmail.net
authors.forename: S-H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: E-J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J-H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S-S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: M-S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S-S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: G-Y
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: H-S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: D-S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Chun
authors.forename: S-S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: H-S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D005838:Genotype; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D017957:Hepatitis A Virus, Human / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral