Central African Republic is part of the West-African hepatitis B virus genotype E crescent.
BACKGROUND
Recent studies have shown that Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype E predominates in a vast crescent in West-Africa spanning from Senegal to Angola.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether HBV strains in the Central African Republic (CAR) belong predominately to the homogeneous West-African genotype E or whether they are more closely related to genotypes found in East Africa.


METHODS
Serum samples were randomly collected from 196 patients admitted with symptoms of acute or chronic hepatitis to the Central Hospital in Bangui. Thirty complete and 36 partial sequences of HBV strains were obtained.


RESULTS
Ninety-four percent (62/66) of the strains belonged to genotype E, while genotype A1, most closely related to a strain from Tanzania and genotype D were detected in only one and three samples, respectively. One strain presented a recombination between the S and X gene of a genotype E precursor and a partial PreC/C gene of a genotype D precursor.


CONCLUSIONS
Genotype E is predominant in CAR with little overlap with genotypes from Eastern Africa, extending the West-African HBV genotype E crescent further to the East.
Bekondi
Claudine
C
Laboratoire de Virologie, Unité des Rétrovirus et des Hépatites virales, Institut Pasteur de Bangui, rue Pasteur, BP 923 Bangui, République Centrafricaine.
Olinger
Christophe M
CM
Boua
Nathalie
N
Talarmin
Antoine
A
Muller
Claude P
CP
Le Faou
Alain
A
Venard
Véronique
V
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002488:Central African Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010802:Phylogeny; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens