Researchers find hepatitis B clues in old northern blood

A Canadian research scientist is using frozen blood samples, taken two decades ago from thousands of people across the North, in hopes of revealing new clues about hepatitis B.

"It's providing us with a snapshot in time of what has occurred with hepatitis B virus."said Dr. Carla Osiowy, a research scientist with the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg.

Osiowy said she has found a new sub-genotype — a strain within a strain — of hepatitis B among people in Nunavut, related to a strain found in Japan. She said this particular strain produces a milder form of the disease in which those infected carry the virus but are otherwise healthy.read more