Microorganisms (Aug 2023)

Concealed for a Long Time on the Marches of Empires: Hepatitis B Virus Genotype I

  • Agnès Marchio,
  • Philavanh Sitbounlang,
  • Eric Deharo,
  • Phimpha Paboriboune,
  • Pascal Pineau

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11092204
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 9
p. 2204

Abstract

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Genotype I, the penultimate HBV genotype to date, was granted the status of a bona fide genotype only in the XXIst century after some hesitations. The reason for these hesitations was that genotype I is a complex recombinant virus formed with segments from three original genotypes, A, C, and G. It was estimated that genotype I is responsible for only an infinitesimal fraction (2 spreading from Eastern India to China, inhabited by a little more than 100 million persons belonging primarily to ethnic minorities speaking various types of languages (Tibeto-Burman, Austroasiatic, and Tai-Kadai) who managed to escape the authority of central states during historical times. Genotype I consists of two subtypes: I1, present in China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam; and I2, encountered in India, Laos, and Vietnam.

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