Korean J Gastroenterol.  2011 Jun;57(6):346-351. 10.4166/kjg.2011.57.6.346.

Molecular and Clinical Characterization of Hepatitis A Virus in Gwangju and Jeonnam Province

• Noh DY
• Cho SB
• Kim YJ
• Lee WS
• Park CH
• Joo YE
• Kim HS
• Rew JS
• Choi SK

• KMID: 1792798
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4166/kjg.2011.57.6.346

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Dominant genotype of hepatitis A virus (HAV) in Korea had been known to be genotype 1A in 1990s. Recently, the epidemiologic change of HAV genotype was reported with an upsurge of acute hepatitis A in Korea. The aim of this study was to investigate the change of HAV genotypes and clinical characteristics in Gwangju and Jeonnam province.
METHODS
From November 2008 to October 2009, a total of 82 patients with acute hepatitis A were enrolled prospectively. HAV genotype was determined using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and sequencing of the PCR products of VP1/2A region of HAV.
RESULTS
HAV RNA was detected in 82% (67/82). The genotype IIIA (88%, 59 cases) was significantly more frequent than genotype IA (12%, 8 cases) (p< or =0.01). The subtypes of genotype IIIA were AJ299467 Norway (49%), HA-JNG04-09 Japan (27%), HS-14-12-00 Spain (22%) and H-122 Sweden (2%). The subtypes of IA were FH1 Japan (50%) and HA J04-3 Japan (50%). The substitutions of amino acid were more frequent in genotype IIIA than IA (p< or =0.01). There was no difference in the clinical characteristics between the patients with genotype IIIA and IA.
CONCLUSIONS
Genotype IIIA was a dominant genotype of recent HAV infection in Gwangju and Jeonnam province. This study provides valuable epidemiologic information of genetic distributions of HAV in Korea.

Keyword

Hepatitis A virus; Genotype; Epidemiology

Figure

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  Fig. 1. The phylogentic tree generated by clustral V method within MegAlign package in the nucleotide sequences of VP1/2A region of HAV.

Reference

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