Farci P, Munoz S J, Shimoda A, Govindarajan S, Wong D C, Coiana A, Peddis G, Rubin R, Purcell R H
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Cagliari, 09124 Cagliari, Italy.
J Infect Dis. 1999 Apr;179(4):1007-11. doi: 10.1086/314653.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) was transmitted from a patient with fulminant hepatitis C to a chimpanzee. The patient had developed two episodes of fulminant hepatitis C, each occurring after a separate liver transplantation. Serial serum and liver samples from the patient and the chimpanzee were analyzed for HCV replication, genotype, quasispecies heterogeneity, and antibodies. In the patient, the levels of HCV replication in serum and liver correlated with the degree of hepatocellular necrosis and the clinical expression of fulminant hepatitis. The same HCV strain, genotype 1a, was recovered from both episodes of fulminant hepatitis. An unusually severe acute hepatitis was also observed in the chimpanzee. The viruses recovered from the patient and the chimpanzee were almost identical and displayed relatively little quasispecies heterogeneity. Thus, the same HCV strain induced two episodes of fulminant hepatitis in a single patient and severe hepatitis in a chimpanzee, suggesting that the pathogenicity or virulence of a specific HCV strain may be important in the pathogenesis of fulminant hepatitis C.
丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）从一名暴发性丙型肝炎患者传播至一只黑猩猩。该患者发生了两次暴发性丙型肝炎，每次均在单独一次肝移植后出现。对患者和黑猩猩的系列血清及肝脏样本进行了HCV复制、基因型、准种异质性及抗体分析。在患者中，血清和肝脏中的HCV复制水平与肝细胞坏死程度及暴发性肝炎的临床表现相关。两次暴发性肝炎均分离出同一HCV毒株，基因型为1a。在黑猩猩中也观察到异常严重的急性肝炎。从患者和黑猩猩体内分离出的病毒几乎相同，且准种异质性相对较小。因此，同一HCV毒株在一名患者中引发了两次暴发性肝炎，并在一只黑猩猩中引发了严重肝炎，提示特定HCV毒株的致病性或毒力在暴发性丙型肝炎的发病机制中可能起重要作用。
