Department of Internal Medicine, Université Catholique de Bukavu, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Department of Gastroenterology, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Bruxelles, Belgium.
J Med Virol. 2018 Feb;90(2):250-254. doi: 10.1002/jmv.24837. Epub 2017 Nov 11.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes show a distinctive geographical distribution worldwide and genotypes A, D, and E are the most frequently found in Africa. There are only limited studies on HBV genotype distribution in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), all done in the western part showing a vast majority of genotype E. In our study, HBV strains from South Kivu, an eastern province of the DRC, were analyzed. Sequencing of 41 serum samples from HBV infected patients revealed strains of genotype A in 40/41 (97.6%) and genotype E in 1/41 (2.4%). The phylogenetic analysis showed that nearly all genotypes A (38/40) were closely related to A1 subgenotype strains found in Rwanda, Haiti, and Martinique while only two strains attached to the A2 subgenotype cluster were isolated. The remaining genotype E case was linked to the western African E crescent. Only the I169T nucleotide substitution was observed in two genotype A samples. In conclusion, the genotype A seems to be the most predominant genotype in eastern DRC with the majority belonging to the Afro-Asian subgenotype (A1). This contrasts with the western part of DRC where genotype E is predominant. These results support the hypothesis of an East-West genotypic demarcation.
乙型肝炎病毒 (HBV) 基因型在全球范围内具有独特的地理分布，基因型 A、D 和 E 是在非洲最常见的基因型。关于刚果民主共和国 (DRC) 的 HBV 基因型分布，仅有有限的研究，且均在该国西部进行，结果显示绝大多数为基因型 E。在我们的研究中，分析了来自刚果民主共和国东部南基伍省的 HBV 株。对 41 份 HBV 感染患者的血清样本进行测序，结果显示 41 份样本中有 40 份（97.6%）为基因型 A，1 份（2.4%）为基因型 E。系统进化分析显示，几乎所有基因型 A（38/40）与在卢旺达、海地和马提尼克发现的 A1 亚型株密切相关，而分离到的仅有两株属于 A2 亚型簇。其余基因型 E 病例与西非 E 新月形相关。仅在两个基因型 A 样本中观察到 I169T 核苷酸取代。总之，基因型 A 似乎是刚果民主共和国东部最主要的基因型，其中大多数属于亚非基因型 (A1)。这与 DRC 西部以基因型 E 为主的情况形成对比。这些结果支持东-西基因型划分的假设。
