Molecular epidemiology of Hepatitis B virus genotypes in Pakistan.
BACKGROUND
Eight genotypes of Hepatitis B virus designated A-H, have been known but in Pakistan, no such data is available on the prevalent HBV genotypes. Therefore, the subject study was conducted to determine HBV genotypes in the indigenous Pakistani population.


METHODS
A total of 690 individuals were enrolled for HBV screening with EIA and nested PCR. Positive samples were further analyzed to determine HBV genotypes (A-F) by multiplex-PCR using type specific primers.


RESULTS
110 (15.94%) individuals were positive for HBV, including 64% males and 36% females. Out of these, 66 samples (65.34%) were classified into genotype D, 27 (26.73%) were of genotype B while 5(4.95%) had genotype A. In 3 (2.98%) samples, multiple genotypes were detected (genotype A+B; 2(1.99%) and genotypes B+D; 1(0.99%). Nine (8.18%) samples remained untyable.


CONCLUSIONS
In Asia, genotypes B and C are the most prevalent but our study reveals that genotype D is predominant and HBV infection constitutes a significant health problem in Pakistan.
Alam
Muhammad Masroor
MM
Department of Virology, National Institute of Health, Islamabad, Pakistan. ursmasroor@yahoo.com
Zaidi
Sohail Zahoor
SZ
Malik
Salman Akbar
SA
Shaukat
Shahzad
S
Naeem
Asif
A
Sharif
Salmaan
S
Angez
Mehar
M
Butt
Javed Aslam
JA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005814:Genes, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology