Genetic characterization of a novel hepatitis a virus strain in irrigation water in South Africa

Abstract

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) was detected, by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, in irrigation water from a dam on a commercial fresh produce farm in South Africa (SA). The virus was characterized by nucleotide sequence and phylogenetic analysis of a consensus sequence spanning the VP1 and VP1/P2B genomic regions. Amino acid sequence and phylogenetic analysis indicated that the HAV strain was closely related to HAV genotype V and possibly of simian origin. This suggests that a novel HAV may be circulating in SA and its presence in irrigation water highlights the potential for zoonotic or anthroponotic cross-species transmission via environmental food and water sources.

Keywords: RT-PCR detection; environment; genotype; non-human primate; phylogenetic tree.