International Union for Circumpolar Health Ministry of Public Health and Social Development of RF Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Medical Polar Fund “Science” The Northern Forum

Abstracts

Seminar Infection Diseases in Arctic

OBJECTIVES: The course of Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) infection depends on several factors that can influence the immune response, such as age at infection, host genetic factors and possibly the genetic variability of the virus. HAV has been divided into six genotypes I-VI on the basis of a partial nucleotide sequence similarity. The objectives of this study were to evaluate prevalence of HAV genotypes in Yakutia and possible genotype-related differences in the clinical course of infection.

STUDY DESIGN: Thirty seven patients (24 males and 13 females) with confirmed acute hepatitis A, hospitalized in the Yakutsk City Hospital during 2004-2005, were included in the study. Twenty one of them (57%) was ethnic Yakuts and 16 (43%) ethnic Russians. The majority of the patients (89%) had moderate hepatitis and 11% had severe hepatitis. Standard laboratory tests and genotyping of the virus were done for each patient.

METHODS: HAV genotyping was performed by subtype specific PCR, designed to differentiate between the most common subtypes (IA, IB, IIIA and IIIB). Fifteen isolates were also characterized by nucleotide sequencing of VP1/2A and 2C genome regions. Phylogenetic analysis (neighbour-joining algorithm, K80 model) was performed using MEGA 3 program.

RESULTS: In the majority of cases (24; 65%) subtype IIIA was found, while the rest of the patients had subtype IA (13; 35%). Both groups had similar clinical and laboratory characteristics. No ethnic differences in HAV subtype distribution were found.

CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of HAV genotypes in Yakutia is different from other regions of Russia where subtype IA was found to be most prevalent. This difference is not a factor of ethnic background. A similar distribution is characteristic of countries in Middle Asia e.g. Kyrgyzstan. It is likely that subtype of the virus does not influence the clinical course of hepatitis A.

Note. Abstracts are published in author's edition

© 1996-2005, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk
Last update: 06-Jul-2012 (11:52:05)