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Detection of hepatitis A viral RNA in sera of patients with acute hepatitis A
Author(s) -
Kwon Oh Sang,
Byun Kwan Soo,
Yeon Jong Eun,
Park Sang Hoon,
Kim Jae Seon,
Kim Ju Hyun,
Bak Young Tae,
Kim Jin Ho,
Lee Chang Hong
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of gastroenterology and hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1440-1746
pISSN - 0815-9319
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1746.2000.02291.x
Subject(s) - medicine , hepatitis a , virology , hepatitis , rna , viral disease , virus , polymerase chain reaction , biology , gene , biochemistry
Background and Aims: The Detection of hepatitis A virus (HAV) is important for diagnosis and epidemiological studies of hepatitis A. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique is a sensitive test to detect HAV‐RNA in specimens. The aims of the present study were to clarify the detection rate of serum HAV‐RNA by PCR and the natural history of HAV viraemia, and to determine the correlation between viraemia and the clinical characteristics in patients with acute hepatitis A.Methods: Hepatitis A virus RNA was tested in 74 serum samples which were serially collected from 27 patients with acute hepatitis A. A nested reverse transcription (RT)‐PCR for HAV‐RNA was performed with primer sets located at the VP1 region of the HAV genome and the PCR products were eletrophoresed on a 1.5% agarose gel.Results: Hepatitis A virus RNA was found in 18 of 27 (67%) patients with hepatitis A. There were no significant differences between groups positive and negative for HAV‐RNA in clinical and laboratory data, except the time interval between clinical onset and initial serum sampling for RT‐PCR (10 ± 6 vs 19 ± 14 days) and the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level at initial serum sampling for RT‐PCR (1436 ± 1416 vs 518 ± 432 IU/L). The mean duration of HAV viraemia was 30 ± 19 days (range, 5–59 days). The duration of HAV viraemia and duration of abnormal ALT levels from clinical onset were positively correlated ( r = 0.685, P = 0.007).Conclusion: In conclusion, HAV‐RNA RT‐PCR is a useful tool to detect HAV viraemia and to study the molecular epidemiology of HAV infection.