Minor Hepatitis C Virus Quasi Species Can Take Over After Needlestick Accident

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Minor Hepatitis C Virus Quasi Species Can Take Over After Needlestick

Accident

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) May 03 - A minor hepatitis C virus (HCV)

quasi species can be transmitted and prevail as the dominant species

in the recipient of a needlestick accident, according to a report in

the May 1 Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Quasi species are genetically closely related populations of HCV that

circulate in infected individuals, the authors explain, and little is

known about how they are transmitted through needlestick injuries.

Dr. Chen-Hua Liu from National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei,

and colleagues analyzed the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of

the HVR-1 region of HCV genomes recovered from the donor and the

recipient of HCV via needlestick accident in an effort to understand

the transmission of HCV quasi species through such an injury and the

molecular evolution in acute resolving hepatitis.

HCV clones in samples from the donor showed greater genetic variation

than did clones in samples from the recipient, the authors report,

and there were no identical nucleotide or amino acid sequences of HCV

HVR-1 between the donor and the recipient.

A phylogenetic tree analysis of HVR-1, however, revealed that the HCV

strains from both patients originated from the same cluster.

The minor variant of HCV quasi species in the donor was transmitted

to the recipient and became the major variant after transmission, the

researchers note. The recipient eventually cleared the virus after

experiencing repeated flares of hepatitis.

The investigators identify three findings of significance in this

report. " First, " they write, " our data demonstrate that a minor HCV

quasi species in the donor may be successfully transmitted to a

recipient and then preponderate in the new host. "

" Second, molecular evolutionary analysis of HCV can help document

viral transmission and could potentially predict outcome. "

" Finally, " the authors conclude, " the preserved genetic homogeneity

of the transmitted viral variants in patients with acute HCV

infection may account for their clinical outcomes of resolving

hepatitis. "

Clin Infect Dis 2006;42:1254-1259.