Iranian Journal of Virology
Volume:3 Issue: 2, 2009

Hepatitis D virus (HDV) can infect human population either as a superinfection or concurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. It is expected that presence of HDV infection is more prevalent in endemic HBV areas. Overall 5% of Iranian general populations are chronic HBV carriers. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of HDV and its clinical impact in a local area of southern Iran (Kerman province). The study carried out during 2006-2007 on all hepatitis B surface antigens (HBsAg) positive subjects who referred to the main referral hospital (Afzalipour Academic Health Center) and subspecialty GI offices in the city of Kerman. The study included just stable chronic hepatitis B and inactive HBV carriers around the province. High risk group subjects and other concurrent hepatitis viral infections were excluded. One hundred and ninety six patients were enrolled in the study. They consist of 143 (73%) men, 53 (27%) women, with a mean age of 39.2 ± 7.1 (range 20-60) years. Twenty-one subjects (10.7%) were positive for anti HDV antibody (Ab). Male to female ratio was 6/1 in this group. All of the HDV positive cases acquired the infection as a super-infection. Elevated aminotransferases (ALT- AST) was documented in 81% of HDV positive cases and in 41% of HDV negative subjects (p=0.001). HDV investigation is recommended in HBV infected patients, particularly those with elevated liver enzymes in a relatively high prevalent area as in Iran.

Adenovirus is one of the causative agents of viral conjunctivitis. Approximately an average of 40% of viral conjunctivitis is due to adenovirus infection. The rate of infection is usually the highest during the spring and summer months. In this study attempt was made to evaluate the incidence of conjunctivitis due to adenovirus infection in patients referred to one of the affiliated university hospital using the congenital virological methods. Samples were taken by a swab from patients with clinical conjunctivitis. Samples were processed and tested using the techniques of cell culture inoculation and polymerase chain reaction. From the 100 samples taken 16% of then were positive by PCR Method. From these only 8% showed viral growth on cell culture. There was no difference of infection between the sex groups but most cases accrued in patients aged 17-27 years during the months of March to May. From the results of this study if was concluded that adenovirus plays a major role as a causative agent of conjunctivitis.

Chronic hepatitis C is one of the most important etiologies of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide. Clinical condition of hepatic patients and the outcome of chemotherapy are under impact of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes. Therefore, HCV genotyping is important for prediction of success of chemotherapy and progression of liver diseases. In this article the distribution of HCV genotypes detected in a population in Ahvaz, southwest of Iran is reported. This was a study on 80 patients suffering from chronic hepatitis C. Following extraction of the viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) patient’s sera, from it was used as the template for the synthesis of complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA). The amplified fragments of HCV cDNAs by nested PCR were subjected to restriction enzyme analysis. Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RLFP) was performed on all HCV isolates to determine the subgenotype. Out of 80 HCV positive samples 43 (53.8%) were genotype 1a and 37 (46.2%) were genotype 3a. The dominant genotype of HCV isolated from patients suffering from chronic hepatitis C in Ahvaz was genotype 1a. Therefore, interferon therapy may not help some of these patients against HCV infection. It is suggested to perform HCV genotyping prior to interferon therapy. Besides, the result suggests that the major route of HCV infection in Ahvaz population is the use of contaminated syringe.

Viral hepatitis is a global health problem with a high mortality rate. Recently, a new Flavi-like virus, provisionally named hepatitis G virus (HGV), has been described. HGV does not induce an immune response that is consistently detectable by using recombinant proteins from prokaryotic expression, therefore studies have been conducted by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based system. HGV is a blood born virus that is parenterally transmitted, however incidence of severe hepatitis with HGV is rare, and most infections are subclinical or mild. A total of 180 blood specimens from chronic hepatitis patients (80 were HBV and HCV positive and 100 were Non B-Non C hepatitis patients) were collected, plasma was separated and stored at -80° C. The specimens were examined by the method of RT-PCR. There were 36 male and 14 female patients, majorities (95%) were living in the city of Kerman, and average age was 35 years old. The rate of infection with hepatitis viruses were as follows: chronic liver disease, including 21 (52.5%) with chronic hepatitis B infection, 17 with chronic hepatitis C infection (42.5%) co-infected with HGV, respectively (p = 0.03). Of the 180 patients, 40 were HGV RNA positive (17.7%). HGV co-infection is highly prevalent among Kerman blood donors who are infected with HBV or HCV. The results also reveal that population negative for HCV and HBV are a low risk group for HGV infection.

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) causes an acute, highly contagious respiratory and kidney disease of chickens which results in significant economic losses in commercial broilers, layers and breeders. Rapid identification of IBV serotypes involved in respiratory complex is a problem in the differential diagnosis. In this study, a single and multiplex RT-PCR was used to detect group III, Massachusetts and 793/B serotypes of IBV that have been circulating in Iranian poultry industry since 1999. Only seven out of 49 allantoic fluid samples showed positive results in single RT-PCR using group specific primers. Two of these samples belonged to IBV positive group in VN test. Whereas; four samples belonged to H9N2 positive group and one sample belonged to IBV/AIV negative groups. The high sensitivity of single RT-PCR led to detect some of the missed IBV infections as compared with other virological tests. Three out of 7, IBV isolates identified with single RT-PCR, classified as 793/B serotype and four of them categorized as Massachusetts serotype in multiplex RT-PCR. The results indicated that multiplex RT-PCR method, can be a valuable test for rapid identification of Massachusetts and 793/B serotypes in complex respiratory complex infection of chickens