ABSTRACT
This study reports the prevalence of duck hepatitis A virus (DHAV) types 1 and 3 on Korean duck farms. By RT-nested PCR assays specific for DHAV-1 or DHAV-3, DHAV-1 was detected in 9 of 157 liver samples (5.7 %) from 2 of 30 farms (6.7 %), and DHAV-3 was positive in 104 of 157 liver samples (66.2 %) from 23 of 30 farms (76.7 %). Dual infections with DHAV-1 and DHAV-3 were detected in 23 of 157 samples (14.6 %) from 5 of 30 farms (16.7 %). The data indicate that DHAV-3 infections are prevalent and that DHAV-1 reemerged in Korea, resulting in dual infections on several farms. Our data will help to establish a vaccination policy against DHAV-1 and DHAV-3 in Korea.
Subject(s)
Ducks/virology , Hepatitis Virus, Duck/classification , Hepatitis, Viral, Animal/epidemiology , Picornaviridae Infections/epidemiology , Amino Acid Sequence , Animals , Base Sequence , Hepatitis Virus, Duck/genetics , Hepatitis Virus, Duck/isolation & purification , Hepatitis, Viral, Animal/immunology , Hepatitis, Viral, Animal/prevention & control , Picornaviridae Infections/immunology , Picornaviridae Infections/prevention & control , RNA, Viral/genetics , Republic of Korea/epidemiology , Sequence Analysis, RNA , VaccinationABSTRACT
Immune reactivity to autologous heat shock protein 60 (HSP60) has been reported to be associated with a favorable prognosis in autoimmune diseases. To provide a clue for the possible role of HSP60 in Kawasaki disease (KD), we investigated the levels of intra- and extracellular HSP60 in the course of KD. In KD patients, autologous HSP60 was abundantly expressed in CD11c(+) cells during the acute phase and subsequently decreased during the subacute phase. Most of HSP60-expressing CD11c(+) cells observed in the acute phase was composed of CD11c(low) cells instead of CD11c(high) cells, which were dominant in the subacute phase. In contrast, circulating HSP60 levels were higher in the subacute phase than those in the acute phase, reflecting higher level of HSP60 exposure to the immune system of patients during recovery. These changes in the levels of intra- and extracellular HSP60 were not observed in patients with other febrile diseases. The observed features of HSP60 expression in patients with KD are in favor of a role for autologous HSP60 as a regulator for control of inflammation, rather than a proinflammatory mediator in KD.
