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Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis B virus in an isolated Afro-Brazilian community

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Abstract

This study was conducted in an Afro-Brazilian, slave-descendant community with high (42.4%) hepatitis B virus (HBV) prevalence. Twenty (8.4%) out of the 239 subjects under study were HBsAg-positive, and HBV-DNA was detected in 59 (25%) individuals. A high rate (18.3%) of occult infection was therefore observed that was associated to low HBV loads (mean, 1.8 × 104 copies/ml) and to a specific amino acid substitution (C100Y) in the small surface antigen. Genotyping of 50 isolates showed that 43 (86%) were of subgenotype A1, one (2%) from subgenotype A2, and five (10%) from subgenotype D. Mixed genotypes A1 and E were observed in one (2%) sample. The genetic distance (0.8 ± 0.3%) among the HBV/A1 isolates from the community was smaller than the intragroup divergence among A1 isolates from Brazil as a whole, but it was similar to that found between A2 isolates from different countries, suggesting that HBV/A1 was introduced in the community through different sources. The substitution W501R (polymerase), previously reported only in Gambia, was observed in 46% of the HBV/A1 isolates. The precore/core promoter region of HBsAg-positive isolates showed several substitutions that could explain the anti-HBe phenotype found in 18 of 20 (90%) of the HBsAg-positive subjects.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the nucleotide sequencing platform of the PDTIS program from FIOCRUZ. Dr. Alan Kay is acknowledged for critical reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Farmácia-Bioquímica, Laboratório de Imunologia Cínica, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Brazil

    A. R. C. Motta-Castro & G. B. Facholi

  2. Instituto de Patologia Tropical e Saúde-Pública, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil

    R. M. B. Martins

  3. Laboratório de Virologia Molecular, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Avenida Brasil, 4365, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21040-900, Brazil

    A. R. C. Motta-Castro, N. M. Araujo, C. Niel, B. V. Lago, F. C. A. Mello & S. A. Gomes

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  1. A. R. C. Motta-Castro
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  2. R. M. B. Martins
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  7. F. C. A. Mello
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  8. S. A. Gomes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. A. Gomes.

Additional information

Nucleotide sequence data reported are available in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases under the accession numbers EF547828 to EF547858 and FJ174794 to FJ174800.

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Motta-Castro, A.R.C., Martins, R.M.B., Araujo, N.M. et al. Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis B virus in an isolated Afro-Brazilian community. Arch Virol 153, 2197–2205 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-008-0237-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-008-0237-0

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