Diversity of hepatitis C virus genotype 1b in Buenos Aires, Argentina: description of a new cluster associated with response to treatment.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1b is the most prevalent in Argentina. As observed in most HCV-genotype 1b described previously worldwide, the population analyzed in this work is growing at exponential rate. Ten out of 22 samples tested comprise a well-defined cluster.

Acute hepatitis C in a chronically HIV-infected patient: evolution of different viral genomic regions.

Aim: To analyze the molecular evolution of different viral genomic regions of HCV in an acute HCV infected patient chronically infected with HIV through a 42-month follow-up.

Methods: Serum samples of a chronically HIV infected patient that seroconverted to anti HCV antibodies were sequenced, from the event of superinfection through a period of 17 months and in a late sample (42nd month). Hypervariable genomic regions of HIV (V3 loop of the gp120) and HCV (HVR-1 on the E2 glycoprotein gene) were studied.

Antiviral activity in Argentine medicinal plants.

In an ethnopharmacological screening of selected medicinal plants used in Argentina for the treatment of infectious diseases, aqueous extracts of five species were assayed in vitro to detect antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and adenovirus serotype 7 (ADV-7). Polygonum punctatum, Lithraea molleoides, Sebastiania brasiliensis and Sebastiania klotzschiana but not Myrcianthes cisplatensis showed in vitro antiherpetic activity with 50% effective dose (ED50) ranging from 39 to 169 microg/ml. P.