Increased circulation of hepatitis A virus genotype IIIA over the last decade in St Petersburg, Russia

摘要: The current study, covering the period 2004–2009, is a part of long-term monitoring for hepatitis A virus (HAV) strains circulating in St Petersburg, Russia. HAV RNA was isolated directly from sera patients and RT-PCR carried out using primer pairs VP1/2A VP1 genomic regions. PCR products were sequenced 324 nucleotides 332 region used phylogenetic analysis. results show that IA subtype most common during follow-up period, as found previous study: almost 90% belonged to subtype. large food-borne outbreak Petersburg 2005 caused by IA. However, proportion isolates belonging IIIA significantly increased 2001–2009 (7.9%) compared 1997–2000 (none found). first 2001 among group intravenous drug users. increase its circulation decade suggests this previously unusual genotype has been permanently introduced into general population Petersburg. These indicate usefulness molecular epidemiological methods studying changes strains. J. Med. Virol. 84:1528–1534, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.