Abstract

Background: HBV infection is a major global health problem and ten genotypes (A to J) and multiples subtypes of HBV have been identified, and they show some distinct geographic distributions. The available data on HBV genotype in Iran are very heterogeneous and limited. Therefore in this study, we tried to identify the HBV genotypes by using polymerase chain reaction. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, HBV- positive serum samples of 122 patients with chronic hepatitis from 2011 to 2014 were studied. HBV-DNA was extracted from plasma samples using QIAamp® MiniElute® Virus Spin Kit (Qiagen). Plasma samples from HBsAg positive were confirmed the presence of HBV nucleic acid and determined the genotypes of HBV genome by PCR using the DNA PCR kit (Cinagene) with Taq-DNA polymerase enzyme and type of specific primers. All samples were examined in the virology laboratory of Sari Medical School. Results: The mean age of patients were 45 ± 25 (range, 20 to 70) year that 70 (57.37%) patients were male and 52 (42.62%) were female. The majority of HBV positive patients had a major surgery (44% patients) and then 32% patients followed by intra familial of hepatitis B virus infected and 11% of HBV positive patients had a history of blood transfusions. In this study, 91(74.59%) had genotype D, 7(5.73%) genotype B and 24(19.67%) genotype D and B. Conclusion: This study indicates that the genotype D is the most frequent followed by the mixed genotypes D and B and genotype B in our region. Prevalence and incidence of HBV genotypes are with distributed among of areas and different genotypes may show different responses with antiviral therapy.

Key words: Hepatitis B virus, Genotype of HBV, PCR.