Acute hepatitis B virus infection in Turkey: epidemiology and genotype distribution

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes in Turkey. Epidemiological and clinical data for 158 patients with acute HBV infection from 22 medical centres in the period February 2001 to February 2002 were collected prospectively. HBV genotyping was based on analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms and nested PCR. There were 59 female and 99 male patients, with a mean age of 34.2 +/- 15.6 years. The most common probable transmission route was blood contact in 63 (41.1%) cases, but was unknown in 78 (49.4%) cases. The mean alanine aminotransferase level was 1718 +/- 1089 IU/L. Four of the 158 patients (2.5%) died because of fulminant hepatitis. One year after discharge, 11 (10.6%) of 103 cases were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and 80 (77.7%) were positive for anti-HBsAg. Genotype determination was unsuccessful in 11 cases because of a negative PCR; genotype D was found in the remaining 147 cases. The results suggested that acute HBV infection constitutes a significant health problem in Turkey and that genotype D is predominant.

Changes in acute viral hepatitis epidemiology in the Turkish adult population: A multicenter study

“…Following acute HBV infections, 77.7% of Turkish patients develop immunity (19), but this figure was reported as 85% in the United Kingdom (20). The lower rate of immunity after an acute HBV infection found in this study may be because of shorter follow-up periods for certain patients.…”

Comparative Study of HBV, HCV and HDV Serological Markers among Acute Hepatitis B, Chronic Hepatitis B, Apparently Healthy Patients

“…The overall prevalence of anti-HDV antibody was 0.6 %, and this result is incompatible with several earlier studies that were done in Iraq; (Al-Salmani, 1986; Rassam et al 1988). While present study results were in line with recent studies results were done in Iraq (Al-Anbari, 2008), as well as with newly studies around the world (Leblebicioglu et al, 2004;Villa et al, 2015). These differences between the earlier and newly studies could be attributed to a decline in the prevalence of chronic HBsAg carriers in the general population (WHO, 2002).…”

Hepatitis B Virus Genotypes and Variants

“…The newest HBV genotype, J, was identified in the Ryukyu Islands in Japan, and this genotype has a close relationship with gibbon genotypes and human genotype C (Tatematsu et al 2009 (Mayerat et al 1999). In general, the rate of chronicity following acute genotypes A and D infection were reported to be high compared with genotypes B and C (Heijtink et al 1999;Mayerat et al 1999;Kobayashi et al 2004;Leblebicioglu and Eroglu 2004;Suzuki et al 2005;Ito et al 2014). Taken together, the persistence of HBV infection after acute infection may be attributable to the variable strength of host -viral interactions, the modes of transmission as well as the varying distribution of genotypes.…”