The 2023 South Sudanese outbreak of Hepatitis E emphasizes ongoing circulation of genotype 1 in North, Central, and East Africa.

ABSTRACT: In April 2023, an outbreak of acute hepatitis was reported amongst internally displaced persons in the Nazareth community of South Sudan. IgM serology-based screening suggested the likely etiologic agent to be Hepatitis E virus (HEV). In this study, plasma specimens collected from anti-HEV IgM-positive cases were subjected to additional RT-qPCR testing and sequencing of extracted nucleic acids, resulting in the recovery of five full and eight partial HEV genomes. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic reconstruction confirmed the genomes belong to HEV genotype 1. Using distance-based methods, we show that genotype 1 is best split into three sub-genotypes instead of the previously proposed seven, and that these sub-genotypes are geographically restricted. The South Sudanese sequences confidently c

SUBMITTER: Orf GS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11413618 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature