Occurrence of acute hepatitis E virus infection in the Hakodate district: A prospective study of four hospitals in Hakodate City

Clinical and molecular analyses of sporadic acute hepatitis A and E and the specific viral genotypes isolated in Iwate and three neighboring prefectures in the northern part of Honshu, Japan, between 2004 and 2013

“…For the strains isolated in J apan, the name of the prefecture is indicated in parentheses. Three representative strains distributed in Hokkaido and Aichi/Shizuoka and widely across J apan are indicated by vertical bars for visual clarity. The three genotype 4 strains isolated in this study are shown in bold and are marked with closed triangles.…”

“…The genotype 4 HEV strains circulating in Japan can be provisionally divided into three lineages, including the Hokkaido strains distributed in Sapporo, Kitami, Abashiri and Hakodate, represented by JKK‐Sap (), the Aichi/Shizuoka strains distributed widely in four prefectures (Aichi, Shizuoka, Gifu and Mie), represented by HE‐Aichi‐C1 () and the “Japan‐wide area” strains distributed widely across Japan (Fig. ).…”