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Hepatitis B virus subgenotype A1, occurrence of subgenotype D4, and S gene mutations among voluntary blood donors in Kenya

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Abstract

Kenya is one of the high endemic zones for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The consensuses on prevalence of the HBV genotypes and the existence of their variants have not been fully established in Kenya. Hence, there is a need to further monitor the diversity of HBV. This study aimed to extend the current molecular and epidemiological information about the geographical distribution of HBV genotypes and subgenotypes, as well as to describe the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) variants circulating in different Regional Blood Transfusion Centres of Kenya. A total of 32 HBsAg positive blood units from five different blood transfusion centers in Kenya were used in the study. The HBV DNA preS/S-gene was amplified and sequenced. Alignments of S gene were applied using reference sequence from GeneBank. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using the MEGAv4.0 software with the neighbor-joining and maximum composite likelihood methods. Twenty-one plasma samples (65.6 %) were DNA positive and were successfully sequenced. Eighteen out of the twenty-one isolates (85.7 %) belonged to subgenotype A1 Afro-Asian: six were from Nairobi, four from Kisumu, two from Embu, and three each from Eldoret and Mombasa. The other three strains (14.3 %, 3/21) belonged to subgenotype D4 from Mombasa. The HBsAg mutations were detected in nine isolates (42.9 %, 9/21). The HBV/A1 and HBV/D4 are dominant among blood donors in Kenya. This demonstrates that continuous monitoring of the HBV diversity would help reveal circulating genotypes and subgenotypes as well as mutants of clinical significance in Kenya.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the staff of the National blood Transfusion Service for their collaborative efforts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Health Sciences, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), P.O. Box 62000, Nairobi, 00200, Kenya

    Simeon Owuor Kwange

  2. Faculty of Science, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), P.O. Box 62000, Nairobi, 00200, Kenya

    Nancy L. M. Budambula

  3. Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), P.O. Box 54628, Nairobi, 00200, Kenya

    Michael Kibet Kiptoo, Fredrick Okoth, Missiani Ochwoto & James Hungo Kimotho

  4. Kenya National Blood Transfusion Service, PO Box 29804, Nairobi, 00202, Kenya

    Margaret Oduor

Authors
  1. Simeon Owuor Kwange
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  2. Nancy L. M. Budambula
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  3. Michael Kibet Kiptoo
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  4. Fredrick Okoth
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  5. Missiani Ochwoto
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  7. James Hungo Kimotho
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nancy L. M. Budambula.

Additional information

The sequences in this study have been submitted to the GeneBank DDBJ. The accession numbers are AB786643–AB786663.

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Kwange, S.O., Budambula, N.L.M., Kiptoo, M.K. et al. Hepatitis B virus subgenotype A1, occurrence of subgenotype D4, and S gene mutations among voluntary blood donors in Kenya. Virus Genes 47, 448–455 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11262-013-0976-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11262-013-0976-1

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