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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction-Based Detection and Quantification of Hepatitis B Virus DNA
Published on: December 15, 2023
Molecular epidemiology of Hepatitis B virus genotypes in Pakistan
Muhammad Masroor Alam1, Sohail Zahoor Zaidi, Salman Akbar Malik
1Department of Virology, National Institute of Health, Islamabad, Pakistan. ursmasroor@yahoo.com
Background:
Eight genotypes of Hepatitis B virus designated A-H, have been known but in Pakistan, no such data is available on the prevalent HBV genotypes. Therefore, the subject study was conducted to determine HBV genotypes in the indigenous Pakistani population.
Methods:
A total of 690 individuals were enrolled for HBV screening with EIA and nested PCR. Positive samples were further analyzed to determine HBV genotypes (A-F) by multiplex-PCR using type specific primers.
Results:
110 (15.94%) individuals were positive for HBV, including 64% males and 36% females. Out of these, 66 samples (65.34%) were classified into genotype D, 27 (26.73%) were of genotype B while 5(4.95%) had genotype A. In 3 (2.98%) samples, multiple genotypes were detected (genotype A+B; 2(1.99%) and genotypes B+D; 1(0.99%). Nine (8.18%) samples remained untyable.
Conclusion:
In Asia, genotypes B and C are the most prevalent but our study reveals that genotype D is predominant and HBV infection constitutes a significant health problem in Pakistan.
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