Molecular epidemiology of Hepatitis B virus in Córdoba, Argentina.

GALLEGO FERNANDO; PISANO MARÍA BELÉN; TORRES CAROLINA; CAEIRO LUCIANA; MARTÍNEZ WASSAF MARIBEL; BALANGERO MARCOS; CAMPOS RODOLFO; RE VIVIANA

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL VIROLOGY : THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE PAN AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CLINICAL VIROLOGY.

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2014

1386-6532

The analysis of the genomes of hepatitis B virus (HBV) identifies phylogenetic variants called genotypes, which may lead to distinct biological and clinical behaviors. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to describe the current molecular epidemiology and genetic diversity of HBV in Córdoba, Argentina. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 52 HBV samples, 40 from HBV mono-infected and 12 from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-HBV co-infected patients, were sequenced in the S gene and in the basal core promoter-precore (BCP-pC) region. RESULTS: Presence of subgenotypes F1b (35%) and F4 (17.5%), subgenotype A2 (37.5%), C (5.0%) (subgenotype could not be defined) and D (5.0%) (subgenotype D2, and the other could not be defined) were observed among mono-infected patients. The co-infected individuals displayed a different genotype distribution: sub-genotype A2 was the most common (75.0%), followed by subgenotype F1b (25.0%). CONCLUSIONS: These results showed two epidemiologic scenarios: the mono-infected population may represent the ethnic composition of the current human population of Córdoba, where the Amerindian (genotype F) and European origins (subgenotype A2) account for the 90% of the samples; for the co-infected patients, the high prevalence of subgenotype A2 resemble previous analyses from Buenos Aires. In addition, mutations in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), polymerase and BCP-pC regions were identified, mainly in chronic or co-infected patients.