| Full text | |
| Author(s): |
Cruz Santos, Max Diego
;
Gomes-Gouvea, Michele Soares
;
Costa Nunes, Jomar Diogo
;
Fonseca Barros, Lena Maria
;
Carrilho, Flair Jose
;
Paiva Ferreira, Adalgisa de Sousa
;
Rebello Pinho, Joao Renato
Total Authors: 7
|
| Document type: | Journal article |
| Source: | VIRUS RESEARCH; v. 224, p. 6-11, SEP 15 2016. |
| Web of Science Citations: | 4 |
| Abstract | |
Hepatitis Delta virus (HDV) is not well known, even though HDV and Hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection leads to severe forms of acute And chronic liver diseases. HDV is endemic in the Western Amazon region. Recently, the HDV genotype 8 was found in chronic patients followed at the center for liver studies in the Northeast Brazil, Maranhao. Previous studies suggested that this genotype was introduced in Maranhao during the slave trade. The presence of HDV in that study, which was done outside the Amazon region, led us to investigate whether the virus is found infecting individuals in other regions of Maranhao as well. Thus, we screened ninety-two HBsAg positive individuals from five Municipalities of Maranhao for anti-HD antibody and eight were found positive (8.7%). These eight positive individuals were submitted to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to investigate active HDV infection. Half of Them were positive for a fragment sequence of the delta antigen; their sequence samples were submitted to genotype characterization by phylogenetic analysis. All sequences clustered in a unique branch of the tree separated from the other branch described in Africa. Our study confirmed the presence of HDV-8 in Maranhao. These infected individuals had no evidence of contact with African people. Furthermore, we found individuals infected with HDV-8 in two more different municipalities. More studies like ours are urgent because the co-infection HBV/HDV is more difficult to treat. Identification of the endemic regions and implementation of healthy policies for preventing this infection are urgent in this region. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 09/53946-3 - Acquisition of a genetic analyzer for automated DNA sequencing |
| Grantee: | João Renato Rebello Pinho |
| Support Opportunities: | Multi-user Equipment Program |