Phylogenetic analysis of isolates from new cases of HBV infection in Southern Italy

The level of endemicity of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections in Italy is low andgenotype D infections predominant. New HBV strains may however be introduced as aresult of movements of people from regions of high endemicity. The aim of thepresent study was to determine whether strains from new cases of acute hepatitis B detected in southern Italy were due to endemic or new HBV strains. We studied34 isolates from patients with acute hepatitis B infection, and 35 from chronichepatitis B patients. A phylogenetic analysis of preS/S region was done bycomparing the sequences from the acute and chronic cases with referencessequences. The study showed that 44% of strain from acute hepatitis B patientswere of genotype A, 53% of genotype D, and 3% of genotype E. The molecularanalysis of isolates from acute hepatitis B patients from Sicily showed a change in the local epidemiology of this infection, with an increase in HBV/A infectionsand a clustering effect for HBV D2, possibly correlated to immigration. Theintroduction of new genotypes , could have an effect on HBV-correlated diseasesdue to the different association between genotype, liver disease and response to antiviral therapy.