Exceptional genetic variability of hepatitis B virus indicates that Rwanda is east of an emerging African genotype E/A1 divide
In Western Africa, hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype E predominates throughout a vast crescent spanning from Senegal to Namibia and at least to the Central African Republic to the East. Although from most of the eastern parts of sub-Saharan Africa only limited sets of strains have been characterized,...
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Published in | Journal of medical virology Vol. 81; no. 3; pp. 435 - 440 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article Web Resource |
Language | English |
Published |
Hoboken
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
01.03.2009
Wiley Wiley Liss, Inc |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | In Western Africa, hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype E predominates throughout a vast crescent spanning from Senegal to Namibia and at least to the Central African Republic to the East. Although from most of the eastern parts of sub-Saharan Africa only limited sets of strains have been characterized, these belong predominantly to genotype A. To study how far the genotype E crescent extends to the East, a larger number of HBV strains from Rwanda were analyzed. Phylogenetic analysis of 45 S fragment sequences revealed strains of genotypes A (n = 30), D (n = 10), C (n = 4), and B (n = 1). Twelve genotype A sequences formed a new cluster clearly separated from the reference strains of the known sub-genotypes. Thus, with four genotypes and at least six sub-genotypes and a new cluster of genotype A strains, HBV shows an exceptional genetic variability in this small country, unprecedented in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this exceptional genetic variability, not a single genotype E virus was found indicating that this country does not belong to the genotype E crescent, but is east of an emerging African genotype E/A1 divide. J. Med. Virol. 81:435-440, 2009. |
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Bibliography: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmv.21412 ark:/67375/WNG-4RB0V47V-K Ministry of Cooperation of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg ArticleID:JMV21412 istex:69F4B5F2942B749BA6FFAB6C7C2CF8BC8266C4AD ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 scopus-id:2-s2.0-60049093144 |
ISSN: | 0146-6615 1096-9071 1096-9071 |
DOI: | 10.1002/jmv.21412 |