Virology Section, Central Hospital Mendoza, Argentina.
Laboratório de Virologia Molecular, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Braz J Infect Dis. 2023 Mar-Apr;27(2):102738. doi: 10.1016/j.bjid.2022.102738. Epub 2023 Jan 3.
Environmental surveillance of water sources is important to monitoring viral hepatitis transmission in clinical settings. This study investigated the circulation of hepatitis A (HAV) and E (HEV) viruses in sewage and clinical samples from Argentina. Between 2016 and 2017, 80 raw sewage samples and 86 clinical samples (stool and serum) from suspected cases of hepatitis A and hepatitis E were obtained. HAV and HEV were tested by both real-time and nested PCR. Positive samples were sequenced for genotype determination and phylogenetic analysis. Overall, HAV was recovered in 39% of sewage samples and 61.1% of clinical samples. HEV was detected in 22.5% of sewage samples and 15.9% of clinical samples. HAV was found more frequently in sewage during the winter and in clinical samples in spring; HEV was more prevalent in sewage during summer and in clinical samples in autumn. All HAV isolates belonged to genotype IA and HEV isolates belonged to genotype 3, the most prevalent genotypes in South America. High prevalence of HAV and HEV in environmental and clinical samples in Mendoza, Argentina was observed. These findings reinforce the importance of environmental surveillance and implementation of health strategies to control the spread of HAV and HEV in developing countries.
水源环境监测对于监测临床环境中病毒性肝炎的传播非常重要。本研究调查了阿根廷污水和临床样本中甲型肝炎（HAV）和戊型肝炎（HEV）病毒的循环情况。在 2016 年至 2017 年期间，共采集了 80 份原始污水样本和 86 份来自甲型肝炎和戊型肝炎疑似病例的临床样本（粪便和血清）。采用实时 PCR 和巢式 PCR 检测 HAV 和 HEV。对阳性样本进行测序以确定基因型并进行系统进化分析。总体而言，污水样本中 HAV 的检出率为 39%，临床样本中 HAV 的检出率为 61.1%。污水样本中 HEV 的检出率为 22.5%，临床样本中 HEV 的检出率为 15.9%。HAV 在冬季污水中更为常见，在春季临床样本中更为常见；HEV 在夏季污水中更为常见，在秋季临床样本中更为常见。所有 HAV 分离株均属于基因型 IA，HEV 分离株均属于基因型 3，这是南美洲最常见的基因型。在阿根廷门多萨，环境和临床样本中 HAV 和 HEV 的高流行率。这些发现强调了环境监测和实施卫生策略的重要性，以控制 HAV 和 HEV 在发展中国家的传播。
