Incidence of hepatitis A virus among hospitalized children's in Cairo

Hepatitis A virus [HAV] is an important cause of acute hepatitis worldwide that can lead to severe illness or even death. It is transmitted by the fecal-oral route through the consumption of contaminated food or water. This study was carried out to determine the incidence of HAV infection among hospitalized children's with acute hepatitis and genotyping of HAV Strains circulating in Greater Cairo. To fulfill the aim of the work, stool samples were collected from 102 hospitalized Children's, ages ranged from 0.5 to 12 years during the period from Dec. 2007 to Nov. 2008. Collected stool samples were submitted to nested RT-PCR for amplification of the VP1/2A region of the HAV genome. The expected fragment sizes of PCR products were 391bp and 244 bp for the first and second round of PCR, respectively. PCR products, of 2nd round of some positive samples, were purified for nucleotide sequence analysis in both directions. Fragments nucleotide sequences were compared to sequences derived from the corresponding HAV genome regions in the Gen Bank. Obtained data showed that HAV RNA prevalence were 82.35% [84/102] among hospitalized children's with acute hepatitis, and the highest HAV RNA was in the age group 3-5 and 9-12, where it reached 88.88% [40/45] and 81.8% [18/22] respectively, and the lowest prevalence rate was 70% [7/10] in the age group 0.5-2. Also, the incidence of HAV RNAwas higher in females 88.1%[37/42], than in males 78.33% [47/60]. Seasonal variation of HAV revealed that the viral incidence was 100% during winter and spring seasons, [25/25] and [17/17], respectively. While it was 85.36% [35/41] and 36.84% [7/19] in summer and autumn, respectively. Sequence analysis of selected fragments showed that all fragments are the same isolate. The phylogenic tree of positive samples confirmed that the isolated virus sequencing was most closely related to Hepatitis A virus isolate Egypt-swS5 deposited in the Gen Bank by accession no. [FJ0100837.2], with 100% of nucleotide identity

Molecular characterization of rotavirus infection among Egyptian children

Rotavirus is the major etiologic agent of severe diarrhea in children world wide. To study the incidence of rotavirus genotypes circulating in Egypt, one hundred fecal specimens were collected from hospitalized children's with acute diarrhea during Feb.2009 to Jan.2010. Using semi nested multiplex RT-PCR for both 0 and P typing. Rotavirus prevalence was 19% [19/100]. Seasonal distribution of rotavirus was 32% [8/25], 28% [7/25], 12% [3/25], and 4% [1/25] in winter, summer, autumn and spring, respectively. G I-genotype was the most predominant and frequent in all samples, followed by G4 and [19. This study revealed that P-genotypes were rare [5/100]. The detected P-genotypes were restricted to p[l I], p[4], and p[8J. A total of 881bp PCR fragments were sequenced and compared to sequences derived from the corresponding rotavirus genome deposited in GenBank. Phylogenetic tree of Rotavirus segment 9 isolated confirmed that the isolated virus sequencing was most closely related to the previously published sequences from different localities all over the world especially that isolated from Russia, South Africa and, Italy with 97-99% homology. A marked seasonal occurrence of rotavirus, during summer and winter season. G1-genotype was the most predominant and frequent in all samples while P-genotypes were restricted to P[l1], P[8]and P[4]