Hepatitis B virus genotype E variability in Africa

A novel hepatitis B virus (HBV) subgenotype D (D8) strain, resulting from recombination between genotypes D and E, is circulating in Niger along with HBV/E strains

“…Near the borders (Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea and Nigeria) where the majority of the population lives, over 80 % of circulating strains in Niger belong, as expected, to the HBV/E genotype. However, sequences from Nigerien HBV strains showed higher variability over the complete genome (3 % mean genetic diversity) than that generally found within the HBV/E group (1.73 %) (Hubschen et al, 2008). Such diversity has also been described in Benin and is probably related to the large number of infected individuals and to more ancient infection in those countries.…”

“…Interestingly, Niger is located between the Maghreb (Algeria in the north) where HBV/D strains are dominant (Ayed et al, 2007;Bahri et al, 2006;Ezzikouri et al, 2008;Khelifa & Thibault, 2009;Meldal et al, 2009) and tropical sub-Saharan west Africa where HBV/E is prevalent (Andernach et al, 2009;Garmiri et al, 2009;Hubschen et al, 2008). Moreover, Niger is also historically a pastoral nomad society, with records of several population migrations, which may well account for the spread of HBV strains of different genotypes in the Nigerian population, leading to the emergence of recombinant strains.…”

“…int/csr/disease/hepatitis/HepatitisB_whocdscsrlyo2002_2.pdf), among whom over 360 million are in a chronic carrier state with a high risk of developing cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (Ganem & Prince, 2004;Lee et al, 1997;Lok, 2004). About 70-140 million of these carriers live in Africa, and about 250 000 of the 1.3 million HBV-related deaths recorded each year throughout the world occur in Africa (Andernach et al, 2009;Hubschen et al, 2008;Kramvis & Kew, 2007;Kramvis et al, 2002;Mulders et al, 2004). HBV belongs to the family Hepadnaviridae and is characterized by a partially double-stranded circular DNA genome of 3These authors contributed equally to this work.…”

“…Very recently, new HBV/ D-E recombinants were identified in the Central African Republic, Ireland (in a west African patient), Tunisia and Guinea, with all of them sharing the same recombination profile (Bekondi et al, 2007;Garmiri et al, 2009;Laoi & Crowley, 2008;Meldal et al, 2009). Interestingly, Niger is situated in the Sahara region, between the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) in the north, where HBV/D is predominant (Khelifa & Thibault, 2009), and Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin and Nigeria in the west and south, where HBV/E is predominant (Hubschen et al, 2008;Kramvis & Kew, 2007). Two earlier studies showed that Niger is a region highly endemic for HBV infection, with an HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) seroprevalence ranging from 17.6 % (Soubiran et al, 1987) to 29.8 % (Cenac et al, 1995.…”

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Infection and Recombination between HBV Genotypes D and E in Asymptomatic Blood Donors from Khartoum, Sudan

“…Subgenotype A3 initially was identified in central Africa and was sporadically reported from west Africa (15,30). HBV genotype E predominates throughout a vast crescent spanning from Senegal to Namibia, one-third of the continent, and extending to the Central African Republic in the east and to Mali and Niger in the north (6,11,18,29). A few HBV/E strains also were identified as minority genotypes further east in Mozambique and Madagascar or further north in Tunisia (21).…”