Determination of Hepatitis B Virus Genotypes in Yazd, Central Province of Iran

Background and Aims: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infects the liver and causes acute and chronic hepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis. HBV has been divided to eight genotypes (A-H) and subgenotypes of A, B, C and F. For the first time, we determined HBV genotypes in infected samples by INNO-LiPA method in Yazd, central province of Iran. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on samples suspected of HBV infection. The sera of fifteen out of ninety-five samples that had shown positive results by RT-PCR were used for HBV genotyping by using INNO-LiPA HBV genotyping assay. Results and Conclusions: Seven (46.7%) out of fifteen samples were female. The mean age of the patients was 37.8±14.3 years. The average number copy of HBV in infected samples was 1.04×106±4.74×105 Copies/ml. All fifteen infected samples had genotype D. Our results showed that HBV genotype D was the only detectable genotype in Yazd, central province of Iran. A further study with a larger sample size in different provinces of Iran is needed to identify HBV genotypes in Iran.