TY - JOUR
T1 - Low genetic diversity despite hyperendemicity of hepatitis B virus genotype E throughout West Africa
AU - Mulders, Mick N.
AU - Venard, Veronique
AU - Njayou, Mounjohou
AU - Edorh, A. Patrick
AU - Bola Oyefolu, Akeeb O.
AU - Kehinde, M. O.
AU - Tamfum, Jean Jacques Muyembe
AU - Nébie, Yacouba K.
AU - Maïga, Ibradim
AU - Ammerlaan, Wim
AU - Fack, Fred
AU - Omilabu, Sunday A.
AU - Le Faou, Alain
AU - Muller, Claude P.
PY - 2004/7/15
Y1 - 2004/7/15
N2 - Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from an excessively high endemicity of hepatitis B virus (HBV), but little is known about the prevalent genotypes. In this study, we investigated the PreS1/PreS2/S genes of 127 viruses obtained from 12 locations in Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Except for those obtained from the Cameroon HIV cohort (18/22 HBV genotype A), 96 of 105 sequences belonged to HBV genotype E (HBV/E), and viral DNA was very similar (1.67% diversity) throughout this vast HBV/E crescent, which spans 6000 km across Africa. The low diversity suggests that HBV/E may have a short evolutionary history. Considering a typical mutation rate of DNA viruses, it would take only 200 years for the strain diversity of HBV/E viruses to develop from a single introductory event. The relatively recent introduction of HBV/E into humans would also explain its conspicuous absence in the Americas, despite the forced immigration of slaves from west Africa, until the early 19th century. Infection during infancy is mostly associated with chronic carrier status, and this combination can account for the explosive spread of virtually identical viruses within a community, but whether other routes of long-range transmissions must be considered becomes an important question.
AB - Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from an excessively high endemicity of hepatitis B virus (HBV), but little is known about the prevalent genotypes. In this study, we investigated the PreS1/PreS2/S genes of 127 viruses obtained from 12 locations in Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Except for those obtained from the Cameroon HIV cohort (18/22 HBV genotype A), 96 of 105 sequences belonged to HBV genotype E (HBV/E), and viral DNA was very similar (1.67% diversity) throughout this vast HBV/E crescent, which spans 6000 km across Africa. The low diversity suggests that HBV/E may have a short evolutionary history. Considering a typical mutation rate of DNA viruses, it would take only 200 years for the strain diversity of HBV/E viruses to develop from a single introductory event. The relatively recent introduction of HBV/E into humans would also explain its conspicuous absence in the Americas, despite the forced immigration of slaves from west Africa, until the early 19th century. Infection during infancy is mostly associated with chronic carrier status, and this combination can account for the explosive spread of virtually identical viruses within a community, but whether other routes of long-range transmissions must be considered becomes an important question.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=3242699041&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1086/421502
DO - 10.1086/421502
M3 - Article
C2 - 15216479
AN - SCOPUS:3242699041
SN - 0022-1899
VL - 190
SP - 400
EP - 408
JO - Journal of Infectious Diseases
JF - Journal of Infectious Diseases
IS - 2
ER -