Detection of hepatitis-B virus genotype B among patients with HBV-related chronic liver disease by using nested polymerase chain reaction

Abstract

Aim: To detect the genotype B of Hepatitis-B virus in patients seropositively for HbsAg in Al-Dewayia city, Iraq.
Methods: Sera from 30 patients with HBV-related chronic liver disease were tested for HBV genotype B using Nested Polymerase Chain reaction toward two sets of type specific primers of HBV genome.
Results: The genotype B was detected in (6/30) samples at (20%) of tested sera, where the PCR product was 281bp, which encode to untranslated region (UTR) specific region of HBV genome.
Conclusion: The Nested Polymerase Chain reaction is a simple method and easy to use, especially in our country where not all of the reported genotypes until now detected, and the present study established that the common genotype of HBV was B.