The "original" hepatitis B virus of Eastern chimpanzees (Pan trogrodytes schweinfurthii).
Little is known about Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infections in chimpanzees. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of chimpanzee HBV (chHBV) infections in captive, wild born chimpanzees in the sanctuary on Ngamba Island, Uganda and one sample from a wild free ranging chimpanzee. In one third of the plasma samples (32.4%; 12/37) we detected antibodies to Hepatitis B (core) antigen. Amongst those individuals HBV DNA was detected in one captive wild born and the wild chimpanzee. In contrast to the only available earlier described HBV sequence from the subspecies Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii, there was no evidence of recombination with human HBV. Our sequences therefore are likely to present the "original" chHBV from P. t. schweinfurthii.
Chimpanzee Sanctuary & Wildlife Conservation Trust, PO Box 884, Entebbe, Uganda.
Lawrence
L
Mugisha
Marco
M
Kaiser
Heinz
H
Ellerbrok
Georg
G
Pauli
John
J
Opuda-Asibo
Olobo O
OO
Joseph
Fabian H
FH
Leendertz
D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008297:Male; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000821:virology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D018419:Primate Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014454:Uganda
D004279:DNA, Viral; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens