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77 more hepatitis cases may trace to clinic, officials say
LAS VEGAS -- Seventy-seven more people that were treated at a Las Vegas outpatient clinic have been diagnosed with hepatitis C, health officials said. Authorities can't say for sure how the 77 people were infected, said Brian Labus, senior epidemiologist

77 more hepatitis cases may trace to clinic at center of Las Vegas outbreak, officials say
AM LAS VEGAS-Seventy-seven more people that were treated at a Las Vegas outpatient clinic accused of reusing syringes on thousands of people have been diagnosed with Hepatitis C, health officials said. Authorities cannot say for sure how the 77 people

77 more hepatitis cases may trace to clinic, officials say
Seventy-seven more people that were treated at a Las Vegas outpatient clinic have been diagnosed with hepatitis C, health officials said.Authorities can't say for sure how the 77 people were infected, said Brian Labus, senior epidemiologist with the


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Highly Effective Against HCV Genotype 1
When tested on people with Hepatitis C genotype 1, R7128 proved to be an effective addition to combination therapy after just four weeks' time. In addition to its anti-viral effect, polymerase inhibitor R7128 received good marks for safety and minimal...

Investigational Drug Beats Standard Therapy in Hepatitis C Study
A Phase IIa trial investigating triple combination therapy with PEGASYS, COPEGUS and Roche's investigational drug R1626, demonstrated a higher response rate than traditional combination therapy alone. While R1626's effectiveness and high barrier to resistance makes it a top Hepatitis C...

Hepatitis C Complications Helped by Maintenance Interferon
A four-year study confirms that low-dosage maintenance interferon therapy prevents disease progression in those with portal hypertension or cirrhosis from Hepatitis C....


The origin of Hepatitis C virus genotypes

For many RNA viruses, relatively recent times of origin of extant viruses are implied by the high rate of substitution observed in longitudinal studies. However, extrapolation of short-term rates of substitution can give misleading estimates of times of divergence.

We show here that the common ancestor of different types of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is older than previously thought. The rate of HCV sequence change was measured amongst a cohort of individuals infected following administration of anti-D immunoglobulin. Virus sequences were obtained in the E1 and NS5B genes and compared with each other and with sequences from an infective batch. Taking account of the bias towards synonymous transition substitutions, the time of divergence of variants of subtype 1b is estimated to have occurred 70-80 years ago. The numerous subtypes of HCV are proposed to derive from more than 300 years of endemic infection in certain geographical regions, with recent spread of some subtypes to other parts of the world. Estimation of the time of origin of the major HCV genotypes (types 1-6) is problematic, but our data and analogy with other viruses suggest that divergence occurred at least 500-2000 years ago.

Author: Smith DB, Pathirana S, Davidson F, Lawlor E, Power J, Yap PL, Simmonds P, Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Edinburgh, Medical School, UK. dbs@srv1.med.ed.ac.uk

Source: J Gen Virol 78: 321-328 (1997)

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