Yonsei Med J.  2009 Aug;50(4):512-516. 10.3349/ymj.2009.50.4.512.

Molecular Epidemiology of Hepatitis A Virus in the South-East Area of Gyeonggi-do in Korea

• Song HU
• Hwang SG
• Kwon CI
• Lee JE
• Ko KH
• Hong SP
• Park PW
• Rim KS

• KMID: 1758609
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2009.50.4.512

Abstract

PURPOSE
Hepatitis A virus (HAV) has been a leading cause of acute hepatitis in Korea. The reported genotypes of acute hepatitis A in Korea are the subgenotype IA and IB. The aim of the present study is to investigate HAV genotypes in the south-east area of Gyeonggi-do in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From June 2004 to June 2006, 46 acute hepatitis A patients were enrolled prospectively. All had sporadic acute hepatitis A patients. All suspected cases of acute hepatitis A were tested for IgM anti-HAV antibodies. We sequenced 168 bp of nucleotides of the putative VP1/P2A junction and determined the HAV genotype with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. The clinical and laboratory results of all patients were recorded. RESULTS: HAV-ribonucleic acid (RNA) was detected in 41 samples out of 46 samples. Among the 41 samples, 25 (60%) were shown to have subgenotype IIIA and the other 16 (40%) were subgenotype IA. Several amino acid substitutions were found. CONCLUSION: In these HAV sporadic cases, IIIA and IA were identified, and this may reflect co-circulation of various genotypes in Korea. This study provides valuable new data on the genetic distribution of HAV and important information to help design appropriate public health measures.

Keyword

Hepatitis A; genotype; phylogeny; epidemiology; reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction

MeSH Terms

Adult
Female
Genotype
Hepatitis A/*epidemiology/virology
Hepatitis A Virus, Human/classification/genetics/*physiology
Humans
Korea/epidemiology
Male
*Molecular Epidemiology
Phylogeny
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Phylogenetic relationship of HAV gene from DNA extracted with known reference sequences by neighbor-joining analysis using CLUSTAL W (1.83). Bootstrap values above 80% from 100 replicates are also shown (L07700 is genotype IB, L07693 is genotype II, L07729 is genotype IIIB).

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