Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotyping in Belgian patients with chronic HBV infection

M I Micalessi1, L De Cock, R Vranckx

  • 1Scientific Institute of Public Health, Virology Section, Department of Microbiology, Brussels, Belgium. Isabel.Micalessi@iph.fgov.be

Several studies have demonstrated that pathogenic and therapeutic differences exist among hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes. Therefore, this study established the prevalence of different HBV genotypes in 128 Belgian patients with chronic HBV infection. The prevalences of genotypes A and D, and mixed genotypes A and D, were 53%, 37% and 8%, respectively, for a group of blood donors, and 54%, 31% and 9%, respectively, for a group of patients from the gastroenterology units. The results indicated that genotypes A and D are the predominant genotypes in Belgian patients with chronic HBV infection.

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