Co-circulation of Two Genotypes of Hepatitis A Virus from Sporadic Cases in Northeastern Area of Seoul, Korea

Soo Jin Yoo; Dong Dae Seo; Won-Choong Choi; Oh-Joong Kwon; Jae-Chan Park; Bo-Moon Shin

doi:10.3343/kjlm.2008.28.5.371

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Yoo, Seo, Choi, Kwon, Park, and Shin: Co-circulation of Two Genotypes of Hepatitis A Virus from Sporadic Cases in Northeastern Area of Seoul, Korea

Original Article

Korean J Leg Med 2008;28(5):371-377.

Published online: 14 February 2008

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3343/kjlm.2008.28.5.371

Co-circulation of Two Genotypes of Hepatitis A Virus from Sporadic Cases in Northeastern Area of Seoul, Korea

Soo Jin Yoo, M.D.¹, Dong Dae Seo, M.D.², Won-Choong Choi, M.D.², Oh-Joong Kwon³, Jae-Chan Park^3,⁴, Bo-Moon Shin, M.D.¹

¹Department of Laboratory Medicine, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

²Department of Internal Medicine, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

³BioCore Institute of Biotechnology, Seoul, Korea

⁴Department of Bionanotechnology, Hanyang University, Ansan, Korea

Received 30 June 200824 July 2008 Accepted 4 August 2008

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background

In previous studies, most hepatitis A virus (HAV) isolates had been genotype IA in Korea. Recently, a small number of different genotypes were reported with an upsurge of acute hepatitis by HAV. We investigated the distribution of HAV genotypes.

Methods

RNA was extracted from anti-HAV IgM positive sera which were collected from March 2007 to February 2008 at a tertiary care hospital in Northeastern Seoul, Korea. Nested reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and direct sequencing for VP1/P2A region of the HAV were performed.

Results

A total of 699 cases with suspected acute hepatitis were tested for anti-HAV IgM, and positive results were obtained in 56 sera (8.0%), which were collected 2 to 15 days (median, 7 days) after the onset of symptoms. Of the 56 seropositive samples, 52 (92.9%) were positive for HAV RNA, among which 28 isolates (53.8%) belonged to genotype IA and the remaining 24 (46.2%) belonged to genotype IIIA. Both IA and IIIA genotypes were isolated from 6-7 neighboring administrative districts throughout the year without geographic or seasonal restrictions.

Conclusions

Co-circulation of two distinct HAV genotypes (IA and IIIA) was observed from the northeastern Seoul for the year studied.

Keywords: Hepatitis A virus, Acute hepatitis, Genotype

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Fig. 1.

A phylogenetic tree constructed for the nucleotide sequences of VP1/P2A region of hepatitis A virus genome. The tree includes 52 strains of Korean patients and reference strains. ^∗shows the reference strains acquired abroad; HAJ04-3, FH1, IT-SIB-01 in genotype IA, HM175 in genotype IB, NOR-21, HA-JNG04-90, HS-14/12/00 in genotype IIIA, and HA-JNG06-90 in genotype IIIB.

Fig. 2.

Comparison of predicted amino acid sequences of genotype IA isolates. The consensus amino acid sequence for the predominant genotype IA is shown on the top line. Dots indicate conserved amino acids; differences are shown by the appropriate single letter amino acid code.

Fig. 3.

Monthly (A) and geographical (B) distribution of 56 patients with hepatitis A. Genotype IA was isolated in 28 patients and genotype IIIA in 24 patients. The remaining 4 patients were negative for VP1/P2A PCR: (A) Monthly distribution from March 2007 to February 2008, (B) Geographic distribution of the patients’ residential areas.

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