The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Monitoring Hepatitis C Infection in a Major Swedish Nephrology Unit and Molecular Resolution of a New Case of Nosocomial Transmission

På svenska

Author

Summary, in English

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a frequent problem in hemodialysis units. The prevalence and incidence of HCV infection over a decade were studied in a nephrology unit affected by previous nosocomial HCV transmission. The HCV non-structural 5B protein gene was sequenced to achieve phylogenetic analysis of a new (incident) case of infection. Proportions of patients who were and were not infected with HCV remained similar over the period, as did the inflow and outflow of patients infected previously. In 1997, 12/157 (8%) of patients at the unit (treatment: hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and renal transplant recipients) were positive in HCV RNA, whereas in 2007 the overall number was 9/239 (4%). One patient acquired an HCV infection, and the NS5B sequence in that case clustered with genotype 2b sequences found in patients from an earlier outbreak. Comparing the HCV from the incident patient with several stored longitudinal samples and cloned PCR products from the most likely source patient revealed close phylogenetic relationship with an HCV quasispecies member from the possible source. The source patient and the incident newly infected patient were not scheduled on the same dialysis shift, although the records showed that simultaneous treatment occurred on two occasions during the months preceding transmission. In conclusion, over the 10-year period, the proportion of HCV-infected patients at the unit was unchanged. Only one new infection occurred, which originated from a fellow patient's quasispecies. This establishes phylogenetic analysis as a valuable tool for tracing patient sources of HCV transmission. J. Med. Virol. 82:249-256, 2010. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Publishing year

2010

Language

English

Pages

249-256

Publication/Series

Journal of Medical Virology

Volume

82

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Topic

  • Microbiology in the medical area

Keywords

  • phylogenetic analysis
  • NS5B
  • nosocomial transmission
  • hemodialysis
  • hepatitis C virus

Status

Published

Research group

  • Clinical Microbiology, Malmö

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1096-9071