Central African Republic is part of the West-African hepatitis B virus genotype E crescent

Background: Recent studies have shown that Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype E predominates in a vast crescent in West-Africa spanning from Senegal to Angola. Objectives: To determine whether HBV strains in the Central African Republic (CAR) belong predominately to the homogeneous West-African genotype E or whether they are more closely related to genotypes found in East Africa. Study design: Serum samples were randomly collected from 196 patients admitted with symptoms of acute or chronic hepatitis to the Central Hospital in Bangui. Thirty complete and 36 partial sequences of HBV strains were obtained. Results: Ninety-four percent (62/66) of the strains belonged to genotype E, while genotype A1, most closely related to a strain from Tanzania and genotype D were detected in only one and three samples, respectively. One strain presented a recombination between the S and X gene of a genotype E precursor and a partial PreC/C gene of a genotype D precursor. Conclusions: Genotype E is predominant in CAR with little overlap with genotypes from Eastern Africa, extending the West-African HBV genotype E crescent further to the East.