6533b837fe1ef96bd12a332c

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Molecular Epidemiology and Evolution in an Outbreak of Fulminant Hepatitis B Virus

María José GosalbesAndrés MoyaFrancisco M. GonzálezMaría Alma BrachoFernando González-candelas

subject

Microbiology (medical)Hepatitis B virusGenome Viralmedicine.disease_causeDisease OutbreaksEvolution MolecularOrthohepadnavirusVirologymedicineHumansFulminant hepatitisLetter to the EditorPhylogenyGeneticsHepatitis B virusMolecular EpidemiologybiologyMolecular epidemiologyTransmission (medicine)OutbreakSequence Analysis DNAHepatitis BHepatitis Bbiology.organism_classificationmedicine.diseaseVirologyHepadnaviridaeDNA Viral

description

ABSTRACT In order to establish the transmission pathway for two outbreak patients affected by fulminant hepatitis B (FHB) following a shared period of hospitalization, we sequenced the complete genomes of the hepatitis B viruses (HBV) isolated from them as well as from the suspected common source and 11 additional controls. Phylogenetic and statistical analyses of these sequences revealed that the two FHB patients were indeed infected by a common source and that the fatal development of the disease did not appear to be associated with any mutation previously reported to be related to FHB. These data have also allowed us to estimate the extent and distribution of genetic variability along the genomes of HBV genotype D samples from the same source population. As a result of these analyses, we provide an improved statistical method to individualize the assignment of each suspected patient and the source of an outbreak and information on which genome region to analyze in the molecular epidemiological assessment of hepatitis B virus transmission cases.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2006-04-01Journal of Clinical Microbiology
https://doi.org/10.1128/jcm.44.4.1288-1294.2006