Medical Conferences | Scientific Program | Virology 2015 | Atlanta | USA

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Immunity to varicella and measles have not been compared in HIV seropositive and rnseronegative pregnant women and their infants. Antibody levels to varicella and measles were rnevaluated in 14 HIV seropositive and 34 seronegative pregnant women, 14 HIV exposed and 26 rnun-exposed cord bloods, and followed-up prospectively in 23 HIV exposed and unexposed infants rnaround 3- 7 months of age by ELISA (99 samples) and by EIA (13 samples) for measles and byrnimmunofluorescence (IFA) for varicella. Correlates of immunity were defined as antibody levels rnmeasles (> 1.09 OD ratio or EIA) and >1:8 IFA for varicella. Antibody levels were correlated with rnT cell counts in HIV seropositive mothers. Mean (range) ages of women at time of serologic rntests were 27 (18-40), and 25 (15-41) years for HIV and control groups, respectively. Antibody rnlevels to measles were significantly (P= 0.04) lower in cord bloods of HIV exposed infants rncompared to the controls. T cell counts were lower in HIV seropositive women non-immune rn(268/mm3) to measles compared to those immune (618/mm3), but insignificantly (P= 0.07).rnImmunity to measles and varicella as recognized by antibody levels declined significantly in rnboth HIV exposed and unexposed infants by 3- 7 months of age.rn

General Virology and Basic Science

Chair

Sita Awasthi

University of Pennsylvania,USA

Co-Chair

Hua Zhu

Rutgers University,USA

Session Introduction

Michael W. Washabaugh

MedImmune,USA

Title: Review of Virus-Like Particle Production, Characterization & Comparability for Contemporary Vaccines

Title: Territory, Hydroelectric and Dengue in the city of Porto Velho, Brazilian Amazon

Biography:

Daniel Delani is graduated in Biological Sciences from the Faculty of Education of Porto Velho and has postgraduate in Methodology for Higher Education and Curricular Innovations and in Environmental Management. He is currently Assistant Professor I of the Federal University of Rondonia.

Abstract:

The city of Porto Velho, into the Amazon, is located into an endemic area and it has a perfect condition to proliferate the Dengue`s disease. Hence, the objective of this study is to gather an epidemiologic data of the case reports into the city of Porto Velho, since 2007 to nowadays, showing on these results of the hydroelectric constructions into the Madeira River, has increased the epidemiologic manifestation of the disease, In addition we used the information from SINAN. In summary, the city of Porto Velho registered in the year of 2007, 387 cases of Dengue , 2008 = 1092, 2009 = 1757, 2010 = 6410, 2011 = 162, 2012 = 163, up to date 153 cases of an of the 4 serotype of Dengue, has been registered. Moreover, according to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the city of Porto Velho leave the alert epidemiologic situation to outbreak epidemiologic situation pointed by LIRAa, since 2010; with index of lend register of 4,4%. These information, associated with incidence of diseases in the year 2010, show the demographic impact caused by increment of workers arrived from different cities among the whole country, for the constructions of Hydroelectric into the Madeira River. Therefore, besides the indexes have shown toward a epidemiologic control, the 4 serotypes of the disease and the continuous migration of workers, may have contributed to new epidemics, increasing the vulnerability of the area toward the disease, being necessary the constant prevention and measurements to stabilize these aggravations.

Clinical and Neuro Virology

Session Introduction

Hua Zhu

Rutgers University ,USA

Title: Role of ORF 7 in Varicella Zoster Virus Tissue Tropism and Potential for Novel Vaccine

Time : 12:35 - 12:55

Biography:

Hua Zhu is an Associate Professor of Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University. He has received a Ph.D. from the Columbia University, New York NY in 1993. He has completed his postdoctoral training in herpesviruses in Princeton University, NJ in 1998. He is serving as an editorial board member of the Journal of antivirals and antiretrovirals and and reviewer of 6 journals. He published over 60 research articles, reviews and book chapters.

Abstract:

After the primary infection, varicella zoster virus (VZV) remains latent in sensory ganglia, and reactivates upon weakening of the immune system, erupting from sensory neurons and infecting surrounding skin tissue. The factors involved in neuronal invasion and establishment of latency are still elusive. In our previous work, we employed a VZV BAC system in order to characterize a comprehensive library of VZV single ORF deletion mutants. We reported 18 ORFs to be fully dispensable in melanoma cells, which we postulated to encode elements responsible for specific tissue tropism. We now demonstrate that screening of these 18 dispensable gene mutants in differentiated neurons led to the identification of ORF7 as a neurotropic factor. This finding adds to our previous report that ORF7 is also a skin tropic factor. ORF7 is a virion component localized to the Golgi compartment in infected cells, whose deletion causes loss of polykaryon formation in vitro and severely impairs viral spread in human nervous tissue ex vivo. Interactions between ORF7 and other virion proteins are under investigation. Furthermore, ORF7 is required for VZV replication in xenografts of human skin and dorsal root ganglia in a SCID-hu mouse model. Here we show that an ORF7 deletion virus is able to infect dendritic cells, which in turn can infect T cells. This unique set of characteristics lends an ORF7 deletion mutant the potential to become an excellent VZV vaccine candidate. This neuroattenuated vaccine would cause neither the primary chickenpox nor the secondary herpes zoster diseases. Finally, given that ORF7 is essential for VZV initial infection of neurons and replication therein, it may also be a critical trigger of reactivation from latency.

Robin J Green

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Title: New Insights into the Bugs in the Airway of HIV-infected Children with Lung Disease

Time : 12:55 - 13:15

Biography:

Robin J Green is Director of Paediatric Services and Paediatric Pulmonology, Paediatric Intensive Care and Allergy Services at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Pretoria. He is a Full Professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health within the School of Medicine at the University of Pretoria. He holds a PhD and DSc, and is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Past President of the College of Paediatricians of South Africa. He is also Immediate Past Chairman of the Allergy Society of South Africa. The National Research Foundation rates him as an established researcher, in paediatric pulmonology.

Abstract:

Pulmonary diseases and syndromes occur in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children and they often differ from children not co-infected by the HI virus.Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PCP) is a common opportunistic LRTI in HIV-infected infants, early in life and presents as acute severe pneumonia. The presence of PCP is known to be commonly associated with Cytomegalovirus co-infection and CMV is often responsible for mortality. Bacterial and viral co-infection occurs but does not impact outcome. The cytokine results suggest that the major cytokine associated with severe hypoxic pneumonia in very young, HIV-infected, infants is IP-10. There is now clear evidence that bronchiolitis is not a common condition in HIV-infected infants. New evidence is emerging that Human Rhinovirus is associated with both bronchiolitis and pneumonia in both HIV-infected and –non-infected children. With regard to the sputum cytokines identified in children with an acute lower respiratory tract infection, IL-13, IL-4, IL-5, TNF-α, IFN-α, IFN-γ, and MIP-1α are significantly lower in HIV-infected cases, whilst IP-10 and MIG are significantly higher in HIV-infected cases.Chronic lung disease, especially bronchiectasis, is often a sequelae in HIV-infected children. H. influenzae and -parainfluenzae are the predominant organisms cultured in children with HIV-related bronchiectasis and now shown to be the dominant microbiome in such individuals. Il-8 is the cytokine which dominates in children with HIV-associated bronchiectasis.

George Adigbli

University College London, UK

Title: tRNA retrograde transport in nuclear import of HIV-1

Time : 13:15 - 13:35

Biography:

George Adigbli completed his Bachelor of Sciences degree in Medical Sciences, with Immunology and Cell Pathology, as well as his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees. He has since completed a Master of Sciences degree at University College London and has been granted a postgraduate scholarship from the University of Oxford to complete a DPhil in Immunology.

Abstract:

Lentiviruses and gammaretroviruses are two subdivisions of retroviruses that exhibit cell cycle independence and dependence respectively in their ability to infect cells. Nuclear import of HIV-1, a process that we lack explicit knowledge of, has been speculated to be mediated by several host and viral factors known as nuclear localisation signals. No such signal currently identified however has been determined essential for nuclear import. Recently it has been found that nuclear import of HIV-1 is mediated by retrograde transport of tRNA. We sought to identify whether there is a relationship between the cell cycle dependence of these retroviral subtypes, the tRNA they incorporate, and nuclear import of HIV-1. To investigate this we studied wild type HIV-1 and MLV and produced two chimeric viruses containing different MLV gag components within a HIV vector. Using these we identified the infectivity of the viruses, extracted and analysed their tRNA and attempted to assay their effect on nuclear import of reverse transcription complexes. We showed that the viruses encoding MLV CA were less able to infect dividing cells than those encoding HIV CA and were also unable to infect non-dividing cells. We also demonstrated quantitative differences between the tRNAs incorporated by the different viruses, most notably the chimera encoding MLV CA. This suggests that MLV CA may somehow affect interaction with or incorporation of tRNAs that mediate HIV-1 nuclear import. We were unable to assimilate the role of such differences in nuclear import however, we have evidence now to suggest that the capsid protein and its interaction with tRNA in some way could hold the key to nuclear import of HIV-1. This creates great prospects for future investigations into the nature of such a relationship and how it may possibly be manipulated in HIV-1 therapy.

Jayaraman Shanmugam

Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University,India

Title: Arboviral infections in India and South East Asian countries

Time : 15:15 - 15:35

Biography:

Dr.Jayaraman Shanmugam,M.Sc.,Ph.D.,M.D.,Ph.,D(Hon.), President of Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists (2014-2015) has worked at Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, (Govt.of India), Trivandrum for 26 years and later in two private medical colleges for 14 years in UAE and India. He has completed 24 research projects, published 118 papers in various journals, received 18 awards and many honors, edited two journals, organized many workshops, symposia, CME, national and international conferences, guided Ph.D students and is an elected Fellow of five societies, including American College of Epidemiology and a senior consultant in Medical Virology/Microbiology in India.

Abstract:

More than 40 human viral agents have emerged in various parts of the world during the past four decades. Most of them are RNA viruses mainly transmitted from animals to humans. Maximum viruses have emerged in the African, Asian and South American continents where enormous species of animals, birds and insects are living with increased possibility of humans coming in close contact with them directly or indirectly. Though more than 550 types of arbo viruses have been described in the world, only around 15 types of them have been reported in India. The Kyasanur Forest Virus in India emerged in 1957 in Karnataka state. In 2005-2006 a major Chikungunya outbreak occurred in South India. The arbovirus emerged lately in India is Congo-Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever virus in 2012 in Gujarat. Around 10 new types of viruses have been detected in South East Asia and Western Pacific. In Australia nearly 40 arbo viruses have been described. Due to the paucity of laboratory facilities many viral diseases go undiagnosed in developing countries from Africa and Asia. Hence the health authorities should initiate appropriate measures to establish high quality laboratories to diagnose viral diseases without delay, including periodic training of the laboratory personnel.

Symposium

Session Introduction

Abdelouaheb Benani

Pasteur Institute of Morocco, Morocco

Title: Molecular Epidemiology of HBV and HCV in North Africa

Time : 14:15 - 14:45

Biography:

Abdelouaheb Benani is the in-charge of Molecular Biology Laboratory at Pasteur Institute of Morocco which is a national reference laboratory for Hepatitis C Program (Moroccan ministry of health). He is also the elect-President of Arab Society for Virology and Active Member on the Advisory Board, Consultative Meeting on Regional Strategy for Prevention and Control of Viral Hepatitis and Other Epidemics-Prone Blood-Borne Diseases, in 2008 (WHO/EMRO, Cairo, Egypt). He got his Master of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Université Libre of Bruxelles (ULB, Belgium) and his PhD in Molecular Microbiology in Fes University (Morocco). He participates in several international and national workshops and congresses. He is also implicated in student’s research for their training, master, and PhD. He published in several journals including Journal of Medical Virology, BMC Public Health, and Virology Journal. He is an active researcher in Molecular Epidemiology of HBV and HCV in general population and high risk groups in Morocco. He organized the 1st International Symposium for Virology in Morocco in 2003 (Marrakech, Morocco) and the First PCR Forum and Molecular Typing at Pasteur Institute of Morocco.

Abstract:

Hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) viruses are major public health problems worldwide and serious cause of liver disease that may silently progress toward cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The HCV epidemic in North Africa falls into an ‘intermediate’ range, characterized by a decreasing East-West gradient, with the average seroprevalence estimated between 1.2% and 1.9%. The HBV epidemic is more rampant, as most countries are either classified as highly or intermediately infected. Egypt harbors the highest HCV prevalence globally, with about 15% of the total population having been infected since the parenteral antischitosomal therapy implemented in the 1920s. HBV is less endemic in Egypt, with prevalences averaging around 4%. Libya borders Egypt yet has a lower endemicity for both HBV and HCV, estimated at 2.2% and 1.3% respectively. Tunisia is intermediate for HBV endemicity, with rates for HBsAg positive patients ranging between 4 to 7%, and an even lower HCV seroprevalence, estimated at 0.4% in the general population. The paucity of data for Algeria results in that the only figure for a national prevalence dates from 2009, and it is estimated that 2.5% of the population are HCV-positive. Morocco also falls into the intermediate range of seropositivity, currently standing at 1.58% anti-HCV antibodies and HBsAg at 1.81% for the general population. In terms of genotyping distribution, the predominant HCV genotypes circulating in the general North African population are 1b and 2a/2c for all North African countries, except for Libya and Egypt, which are distinct and both exhibit genotype 4 as the most commonly circulating strain. In Moroccan intravenous drug users, the predominant HCV genotypes were 1a, 3a and 4, which can therefore be caught by sharing needles with an infected person for IDUs, This is the first national study on the genotype profile of Moroccan IDUs living in the northern region of Morocco, and highlights the fact that they are a distinct cohort and display different demographic, serologic, and genotypic profiles. HBV genotype D is predominant in Morocco, as this is the major genotype in Mediterranean countries. High circulation of precore and basal core promoter mutants is common in chronic hepatitis B infection among the Moroccan patients. The introduction of HBV vaccination in the national schedule of new-born vaccination will be the leading strategy to control HBV infection.

Brian L Pearlman

Atlanta Medical Center, USA

Title: Hepatitis C Therapy: History, Standard Of Care, and Future Directions

Time : 14:45 - 15:15

Biography:

Dr. Pearlman serves as Medical Director for the Center for Hepatitis C at Atlanta Medical Center in Atlanta, Georgia. He is Professor of Medicine at both the Medical College of Georgia and Emory School of Medicine. He completed his undergraduate and medical degree at the University of Miami, Florida and his post-graduate training at the University of Texas, Southwestern and Baylor Medical Center, both in Texas. Dr. Pearlman is widely published in clinical journals including The Lancet, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Clinical Infectious Disease and Lancet Infectious Disease. He is active in both patient care an in teaching physicians, and has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards. He is also an active investigator in hepatitis-C related research.

Abstract:

Chronic hepatitis C infection, which is estimated to infect 170 million persons worldwide, has undergone a rapid evolution in therapy. The goal of treatment is to achieve a sustained virologic response or SVR which has been associated with histologic regression of hepatic fibrosis, improved liver-related mortality and diminished overall mortality. For more than a decade, the standard therapy for genotype 1, the most common worldwide isolate, was peginterferon and ribavirin which achieved at best an SVR rate of 45% but was fraught with a multitude of side effects and usually required 48 weeks of treatment. The past few years has seen the near elimination of interferon and the advent of direct acting antiviral agents including NS3-4A protease inhibitors, NS5a inhibitors and nucleotide and non-nucleotide NS5b polymerase inhibitors, that when used in combination, achieve greater than 90% SVR routinely, even in populations that had been heretofore considered difficult to treat. The duration of treatment ranges from 8 to 24 weeks, and therapy is much easier to tolerate, relative to interferon-containing regimens of the recent past. The major limitation of these contemporary regimens is the cost, although medicoeconomic models have shown them to be cost-effective. Future antiviral regimens for hepatitis C are expected to be active across all genotypes (pangenotypic) and may require as little as six weeks of therapy.

Respiratory and Emerging/Re-emerging Viruses

Chair

Farshad Guirakhoo

GeoVax.Inc,USA

Co-Chair

C. Yong Kang

Western University,Canada

Session Introduction

Jiehao Cai

Childrenâ€™s Hospital of Fudan University,China

Title: Prevalence, genetic drift of haemagglutinin, and antiviral resistance of influenza viruses circulating in Shanghai in children during 2009-2013

Time : 15:35 - 15:55

Biography:

Cai Jiehao has gained the master's degree from Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University in 2013.Then, he worked at Children’s Hospital of Fudan University.( Which ranked best children hospital in China inlast year). He is a pediatrician in department of Infectious Diseases. His research areas is epidemiology and the clinical treatment of infectious diseases. He has published 2 papers in reputed journals.

Biography:

Dr.A.K.Prasad is the currently working as President of Indian Virological Society.He is also the chairman of Influenza Foundation of India.He was elected Fellow of the Geriatric Society of India (FGSI) 2014 at their Nagpur Convention (8-9 November, 2014).He has also Published over 60 Research Papers in national & International Journals & 3 Books (Chapter on Influenza).He has also received Life Time Achievement Award conferred by the Geriatric Society of India on 06th November, 2014 at the Vaccine Advocacy for the S E Asian Countries held at Delhi.

Abstract:

A disease known almost from the time civilization begun high morbid and mortality has been associated with Influenza. Record suggested the reason to stop WW 1; one was the disease influenza which had devastating effect in human as well as in swine. The H1N1 virus was highly pathogenic to man as well as swine. This influenza pandemic estimated to have killed 40-50 million human lives, more than the WW 1. Past century has seen two more influenza pandemics with equally devastating effect. In 1918-1919 the virus affected both human & swine. The influenza pandemic started with Swine in Mexico (2009) causing infection in human there spread very fast to USA and all over the world in just 3-months. A pandemic was declared by WHO. The virus responsible for this had three mutation received genes from swine, human as well as birds (H1N1) although very invasive but had low pathogenicity and the deaths recorded was very few as compared to other influenza pandemics, world has seen. Interestingly, this virus has replaced the old H1N1 from the influenza preventive seasonal vaccine as not seen in circulation. The main concern today is that although human influenza strains are few but today human lives under a threat of influenza from other hosts mainly the bird influenza. Domesticated and the wild birds have all the influenza viral strains known till today in all combinations of H & N. The threat started when 18 farm persons got infected in 1997 from birds and 6 died making this virus as most pathogenic and the infection was directly from the diseased birds. This was unknown. Till then, there used to be one intermediary host working as biological incubator. Total killing of the bird population contained the infection but since 2003-4 human cases has been observed in South East Asian Countries. A pandemic due to H5N1 has been in waiting to take place and could be started anywhere. But this is not the only bird influenza virus posing pandemic fear in human; today several other avian (HPAI) are lurking around to become pandemic human stain. Preventive human seasonal vaccine is available but no pandemic vaccine since the influenza pandemic remains unknown.

Agriculture and Plant Virology

Session Introduction

Vijay Kumar

International centre for Genetic Enginereing and Biotechnology,India

Title: The HBx oncoprotein of hepatitis B virus promotes cell transformation by stimulating rDNA transcription and ribosome biogenesis

Time : 16:30 - 16:50

Biography:

Vijay Kumar is currently a J.C. Bose Fellow at the the International centre for Genetic Enginereing and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi. He completed his Ph.D from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India and post-doctoral research at the Institute of Chemical Biology, Strasbourg, France. He has been a Principal Invstigator and head of the Virology Group at ICGEB. He has published over 100 papers in reputed journals and served as editorial board member of many journals. He is also a fellow of three Indian Science Academies of India.

Biography:

Dr. Mohammed did his Ph. D. in Biotechnology in 2011 he has good academic record and published scientific papers in well reputed peer reviewed journals. He had been worked on developing new improved varieties of crop plants that are resistant to biotic and abiotic stress. He was developed transgenic Brassica juncea L. that showed enhanced sulphur uptake and can be grown profitably in the areas in India where sulphur deficiency are more prevalent. In addition to this, he standardised high efficiency regeneration protocol for cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L cv. HS6) which is very challenging because most of the previously established protocol are for only cocker variety that is no longer cultivated now. He had also done some pioneering experiments in establishing nanoparticle mediated plant transformation system. Currently he is working on silencing viral genes of Cotton leaf curl virus disease (CLCuVD).

Abstract:

Cotton leaf curl disease is a serious and complex disease of cotton causing enormous losses in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) production. Cotton leaf curl virus has become highly virulent due to its genetic recombination that overcomes virus resistance in conventionally developed resistant varieties of cotton. One possible way to overcome this disease is RNA silencing. We have attempted to apply miRNA approach for silencing viral genes. In the present study, we have predicted potential targets of cotton miRNAs against Cotton leaf curl virus genome. Two miRNAs, targeting AC1, AC2, AC4 and beta C1 genes of Cotton leaf curl virus, were selected for their expression in G. hirsutum. The hypocotyl explants of G. hirsutum were used for the transformation with Agrobacterium containing miRNA gene constructs. Transformed G. hirsutum plants were checked by molecular analysis for the presence of miRNA and these plants were challenged with the virus through B. tabaci vector. All the transgenic plants remained healthy and none of them showed any symptoms even in latter stage of growth.

Kavous Ayazpour

Islamic Azad University,Iran

Title: Full Sequencing of an isolate of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus from Iran and study of its phylogenetic relationship

Biography:

Kavous Ayazpour was born in 1971 in Jahrom, Iran. He earned a Bachlor of Science degree in plant protection in the University of Shiraz, in July 1997. He received his Master of Science degree from the Plant Pathology Department at the Science and Research Branch of Islamic Azad University in Tehran, Iran, in September 1999. He received his PhD degree from the department of Plant Pathology in University Putra Malaysia, in December 2011. He is currently a lecturer in Jahrom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Jahrom, Iran.

Abstract:

For full genome sequencing and determination of taxonomic position of tomato yellow leaf curl virus isolated from the Aabdan, Kangan and Asalooyeh of Boushehr province, 28 samples of tomato was collected from tomato farms of these regions in the winter of 1391. Using degenerate primers of begomoviruses (primer BC/ PCRV 181) a fragment (500bp) was amplified in Asalooyeh sample in polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Using the sequence of this fragment, a primer pair was designed (FarsC/FarsV) to achieve the full genome sequence of the virus. Using the combination of primers (FarsC/ PAL1V 1978) / (FarsV /TYLCV-[Ab] 1997C) complete sequence of the Asalooyeh virus was determined. Using Bioinformatics programs and the comparison of complete genome of the virus with other viruses in Gene bank the taxonomic position of Asalooyeh isolate was determined. This is a member of Omani group of tomato yellow leaf curl virus. Also according to the obtained dendrogeram and proximity of this isolates with Arad isolate of Larestan shows the possible movement of virus between border regions of Fars and Boushehr provinces.

Viral Hepatitis

Session Introduction

Syed Amir Abbas Naqvi

The Muhammad Hospital,Pakistan

Title: HEPATITIS C â€“ A READILY CURABLE DISEASE

Time : 17:10 - 17:30

Abstract:

Occult viral hepatitis is a complex clinical entity and is often associated with increased risk of hepato-cellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the main causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. It is believed that disruption of epigenetic machinery is a vital step towards developing HCC. Although, viral replication differentially affects host genomic integrity in the occult and active disease forms, probable consequence on mitochondrial redox mediated epigenetic regulation still remains to be elucidated. In our earlier studies we demonstrated that occult hepatitis elicits a PI3 kinase mediated DNA damage response. We further aimed to establish a molecular link between virus induced mitochondrial stress and redox mediated epigenetic regulation among occult hepatitis patients. To test this notion, we performed a comprehensive epigenetic analysis on host liver biopsies obtained from occult hepatitis B and C patients (n=10). Prior to biopsy blood samples were also obtained to analyze the levels of mitochondrial oxidative stress. The results observed herein suggested that in spite of low viral load both occult hepatitis B & C viral infections lead to impaired mitochondrial redox signaling and perturbed epigenetic machinery. Higher levels of 8-oxo-dG and reduced mtDNA copy number suggested functional disruption of mitochondrial assembly among occult HBV/HCV infected patients. While epigenetic perturbations in occult hepatitis patients were indicated by distorted histone patterns. We observed a dispersed lysine methylation patterns of monomethylated H4K20 (H4K20me3) and H3K9 (H3K9me1) histones, widely known to distinctly mark silent chromatin regions within the mammalian epigenome. Our study also reported that histone H3 and H2A other vital histone, often associated with chromatin condensation and regulation underwent significant modifications in the form of phosphorylation at Ser-10 (phospho-H3) and ubiquitination as uH2A, respectively. Taken together, our study provides novel insights of deregulated â€˜histone codeâ€™ dynamics in occult hepatitis B/C patients that might play as an intermediate step for development and progression of HCC among these patients. It also showcases inextricable role of virus induced mitochondrial stress and epigenomic imbalance which may be helpful in identifying novel therapeutic targets for effective virus removal in occult states.