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Full genome analysis of P hilippine indigenous subgenotype IA hepatitis A virus strains from J apanese patients with imported acute hepatitis A
Author(s) -
Watanabe Shunji,
Isoda Norio,
Ohtake Toshiya,
Hirosawa Takuya,
Morimoto Naoki,
Aoki Kei,
Ohnishi Hiroshi,
Takahashi Masaharu,
Sugano Kentaro,
Okamoto Hiroaki
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
hepatology research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.123
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1872-034X
pISSN - 1386-6346
DOI - 10.1111/hepr.12124
Subject(s) - phylogenetic tree , virology , biology , genotype , genome , hepatitis a virus , virus , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , genetics
Aim Hepatitis A virus ( HAV ) is the most common cause of infectious hepatitis worldwide. Although hepatitis A cases imported from S outh‐ E ast A sian countries, including the P hilippines, have been reported in J apan, the molecular epidemiological data have been limited for these HAV ‐endemic countries. Methods The full‐length genomic sequences of HAV isolates were determined and subjected to the phylogenetic analyses. Results The HAV isolates ( HA 12‐0796 and HA 12‐0938) obtained from two J apanese patients who developed acute hepatitis A in J uly 2012, 1 month after traveling to the P hilippines, where they consumed undercooked shellfish, differed by only one nucleotide (nt) over the entire genome. These HAV isolates of genotype IA were 99.1–99.5% identical within 228–237 nt to those recovered from river water in the P hilippines, suggesting that the HA 12‐0796 and HA 12‐0938 isolates represent HAV circulating in the P hilippines. HAV isolates belonging to one of the two IA sublineages ( IA ‐2) which were implicated in some of the mini‐epidemics in 2010 in J apan are hypothesized to be connected with the P hilippines. In support of this speculation, the present IA isolates ( HA 12‐0796 and HA 12‐0938) shared 98.8% identity over the entire genome with one IA ‐2 isolate ( HAJIH ‐ F ukuo10) recovered from a J apanese female who developed a domestic HAV infection during the mini‐epidemics. In the phylogenetic tree constructed based on the entire genome, these three isolates ( HA 12‐0796, HA 12‐0938 and HAJIH ‐ F ukuo10) segregated into a cluster with a bootstrap value of 100%. Conclusion These results indicate that HAV isolates belonging to the IA ‐2 lineage might have been imported from the P hilippines.