Exceptional genetic variability of hepatitis B virus indicates that Rwanda is east of an emerging African genotype E/A1 divide

• Published in: Journal of medical virology Vol. 81; no. 3; pp. 435 - 440
• Main Authors: Hübschen, Judith M, Mugabo, Jules, Peltier, Cécile Alexandra, Karasi, Jean-Claude, Sausy, Aurélie, Kirpach, Pierre, Arendt, Vic, Muller, Claude P
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.03.2009; Wiley; Wiley Liss, Inc
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Cluster Analysis; DNA, Viral - chemistry; DNA, Viral - genetics; DNA, Viral/chemistry/genetics; Epidemiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic Variation; Genetics & genetic processes; Genotype; genotyping; Génétique & processus génétiques; Hepatitis B - epidemiology; Hepatitis B - virology; Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis B virus - classification; Hepatitis B virus - genetics; Hepatitis B virus - isolation & purification; Hepatitis B virus/ classification/ genetics/isolation & purification; Hepatitis B/ epidemiology/ virology; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Life sciences; Medical sciences; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; molecular epidemiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Phylogeny; Pregnant Women; Rwanda - epidemiology; Sciences du vivant; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Viral diseases; Virology; Africa; Rwanda; Virus; Typing; Genetic variability; Hepadnaviridae; genotyping; Orthohepadnavirus; Molecular epidemiology; Genotype; Phylogeny; Hepatitis B virus
• ISSN: 0146-6615; 1096-9071; 1096-9071
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.21412

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.