MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY FEATURES OF HBV/HDV CO-INFECTION IN KYRGYZSTAN

Abstract

One of the most serious health problems in the world are hepatotropic viruses that cause chronic liver disease. Hepatitis B virus is distributed globally; around 5% of the carriers are also infected with hepatitis delta virus. Co-infection or superinfection of hepatitis viruses B and D significantly associated with a much more severe liver disease, compared with infection only hepatitis B virus. However, examination of hepatitis virus B carriers for the presence of hepatitis D virus in most regions of the world is not mandatory. It should be noted that the complete genotype mapping of viruses hepatitis B and D isolated on the territory of the CIS and the countries of the former Soviet Union, there is not yet, despite the constantly ongoing works devoted genotyping hepatotropic virus in the territory of the Russian Federation and neighboring countries. Due to the fact that one of the prospective ways of spreading viruses is the “labor migration” the inhabitants of Central Asia in other countries, including the Russian Federation, there is a need to pay attention to the situation of viral hepatitis in the region. The aim of our study was to estimate the prevalence of genetic variants and characteristics of molecular epidemiology of chronic viral hepatitis co-infection B + D in Kyrgyzstan. The study involved 30 plasma samples from patients with chronic viral hepatitis B and D from different regions of Kyrgyzstan. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of the isolates showed that among patients examined HBV identified only D genotype. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of the isolates indicated that among the examined patients with chronic viral hepatitis B revealed only genotype D. It is shown prevalence of HBV subtype D1 (73.34%) compared to the HBV subtype D2 (3.33%) and D3 (23.33%). Revealed HDV genotype I with highly variable region of the gene encoding the delta antigen. The high similarity of some isolates with strains specific to neighboring countries endemic for hepatotropic viruses, as well as a dense clustering of other isolates may be an indication of numerous independent drifts of strains into the territory of the country. Also it can talk about the speed of evolution of the virus in a geographically isolated region as Kyrgyzstan. Identification of the propagation characteristics and endemics role in circulation of genotype of hepatitis B and D is great importance.

Keywords

• hepatitis d
• hepatitis b
• co-infection
• molecular epidemiology
• sequencing
• kyrgyzstan