Evolutionary dynamics of HBV-D1 genotype epidemic in Turkey.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV), is the leading cause of liver diseases infecting an estimated 240 million persons worldwide. The HBV prevalence rates are variables between different countries, with an high level of endemicity in the south-eastern part of Europe. Seven main HBV-D subgenotypes have been described until now (D1-D7). Turkey, seems to have played an important role in the penetration of HBV-D1 in the Mediterranean area. The importance of Turkey in the European epidemiology of HBV is also suggested by the observation that the highest spread of HBV infection in the Continent are reported in Turkey with Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania and some southern regions of Italy. In this paper the molecular epidemiology and the epidemiological history of HBV-D in Turkey was studied, by characterizing 34 new Turkish isolates and performing a phylogeographic reconstruction. By using a phylodynamic and phylogeographic Bayesian approach, the analysis suggested that HBV-D1 originated in Turkey about in the early 1940s. The large prevalence of D1 in comparison to the other subgenotypes in Turkey confirms the importance of this Country as epidemiological reservoir of HBV-D1 dispersion. The phylogeny suggests that after each initial introduction of the virus in a specific population, separate transmission clusters have been evolving along independent phylogenetic lineages. Better characterization and continuous monitoring of such groups are going to be crucial to understand in detail the epidemiology of HBV-D1 subgenotype in Turkey and to assess the efficacy of prevention, vaccination and therapy in controlling the epidemic.
Epidemiology Unit, Department of Infectious, Parasite and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Italian Institute of Health, Rome, Italy.
Massimo
M
Ciccozzi
Anna Rita
AR
Ciccaglione
Alessandra
A
Lo Presti
Michele
M
Equestre
Eleonora
E
Cella
Erika
E
Ebranati
Elena
E
Gabanelli
Umbertina
U
Villano
Roberto
R
Bruni
Tulay
T
Yalcinkaya
Elisabetta
E
Tanzi
Gianguglielmo
G
Zehender
D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D058872:Epidemics; D005838:Genotype; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D058974:Phylogeography; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology
D004279:DNA, Viral
HBV; Turkey; phylogeny