Prevalence of Inter-Genotype Recombinant Hepatitis B Viruses in a Highly Epidemic Region of Northwest China

Hepatitis B is among the most important infectious diseases in China. The prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is high in Northwest China, particularly in Wuwei City, Gansu Province. To investigate genetic diversity and genotype distribution in this region, HBV genomes were completely sequenced from 78 HBV-infected individuals from the Physical Examination Center of Wuwei City and analyzed with MEGA (version 5.05) and SimPlot program (version 3.5.1). The results indicated that genotype C (47.44%, 37/78) was the most frequently observed. The nearly half of the individuals were infected by five phylogenetically distinct B/C or C/D inter-genotype recombinant variations of HBV. Our studies indicate that highly diversified HBV viruses are epidemic in this local population. In my study may provide an important reference for further HBV clinical studies, which presents the HBV genomic background will contribute to the establishment of a reliable virus evolution history and provide vital genomic baseline references.