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Norovirus (NoV) is one of the most important viral causes of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in children worldwide. Only a few studies have reported AGE with NoV-positive in some cities in Indonesia. This study aimed to investigate the incidence and clinical characteristic of NoV infection, and also genotype distribution of NoV in children with AGE in Jambi, as the capital and the largest city of Jambi province, Indonesia. Stool samples were collected from children (≤15 years of age) with AGE at three participating hospitals in Jambi from February to April 2019. The detection of NoV and its genotyping were carried out by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing. Of the 91 stool samples collected, 14 (15.4%) were positive for NoV. Fever, vomiting, and severe diarrhea were commonly observed in AGE with NoV, while level of dehydration was statistically significant difference between children with NoV-positive and those with NoV-negative. The most prevalent genotype was GI.4 (42.9%), followed by GII.6 (28.6%) and some other genotypes. Interestingly, this study found the predominance of GI.4, differed from previous reports in Indonesia. Continuously investigation of the circulating genotype is needed to control the NoV-infected AGE., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Outbreaks of hepatitis A have occurred in some cities in Indonesia. In Surabaya, the capital city of East Java province, Indonesia, hepatitis A outbreaks have been reported since2013, with a marked increase in the number of cases in 2015. The aim of the present study was to analyze the genetic and serology of acute symptomatic cases (early infection) during a hepatitis A outbreak and asymptomatic cases after the outbreak in two junior high schools in Surabaya in 2015 to 2016. Students with acute symptomatic hepatitis A during the outbreak and other students who were asymptomatic 3 to 4 months after the outbreak were enrolled. Asymptomatic students had no symptoms from the outbreak until they were enrolled. Sera were collected to identify anti-hepatitis A virus (HAV) IgM (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and HAV genetic variations/genotypes (using polymerase chain reaction [PCR]-sequencing and phylogenetic analysis). A total of 33 (97.1%) out of 34 sera of students with acute symptoms were positive for anti-HAV IgM and 18% of them were positive by PCR, identified as HAV subgenotype IA. No prominent amino acid variations were observed from reported HAV sequences from Indonesia. Among 38 sera of asymptomatic students, most (55.3%) were positive for anti-HAV IgM, while none were positive by PCR. In conclusion, HAV-IA was the only subgenotype identified in acute symptomatic cases during the outbreak. The percentage of HAV-specific IgM-positive cases was very high among acute symptomatic students, but that was also high among asymptomatic students, which might contribute as the important source of infection during the outbreak., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are life-threatening conditions frequently associated with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Asian countries, including Indonesia. HBV genotypes and several specific mutations are associated with disease progression. To clarify the geographical variation in viral characteristics, HBV genotypes and gene mutations were investigated in patients with advanced liver disease (ALD) in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Sera were collected from 41 patients with ALD at Abdul Wahab Sjahranie Hospital and HBV carriers from Red Cross Center blood bank in Samarinda, and screened for hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis B e-antigen. Liver function data were obtained from the medical records from each patient. HBV genotype and gene mutations were determined by polymerase chain reaction sequencing. Analysis of HBV isolates indicated that genotype B was the most frequent genotype, at 85.4 and 97.8%, followed by C, at 14.6 and 2.2%, in patients with ALD and in HBV carriers, respectively. The C1505A mutation in X region, T1753V and A1762T/G1764A mutations in the basal core promoter region and C1858T in precore (PC) region were frequent and only detected in patients with ALD (28.9, 40, 73.5 and 17.6%, respectively), whereas the G1896A mutation in the PC region was frequently detected in HBV carriers. The presence of HBV genotype B and certain HBV gene mutations were characteristic of patients with ALD in East Kalimantan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]