Tracing back hepatitis B virus genotype D introduction and dissemination in South Brazil

Temporal and geographic spreading of hepatitis B virus genotype A (HBV‐A) in Brazil and the Americas

“…and HBV-A2 are the predominant subgenotypes, with HBV-A1 ranking first in all regions except in the South, where genotype D (mainly subgenotype D3) is the major one. 7,40 Besides, these previous reports demonstrated a preliminary assessment of the introduction and dissemination of the main HBV genotypes. The present study adds more light to understand the introduction and high dissemination of the subgenotypes HBV-A1 and HBV-A2 in Brazil.…”

“…After the 1900s to the present day, the number of infections by this subgenotype seems to be remained stable, probably due to the end of the slave trade 10,13,19 . Noteworthy, other HBVs (HBV‐A2, HBV‐D1, HBV‐D2, HBV‐D3) were introduced and quickly spread in Brazil and the Americas in this period 7,19 . More recent stability in the number of infections possibly occurred due to HBV control measures in the Western World, mainly testing of HBV and vaccination policies 1…”

“…4,5 HBV is also long-established in some populations, like the Amerindians. 6,7 Similar to other human infectious pathogens, HBV has an evolutionary history associated with migratory movements of the human populations around the world. Global spreading increased the viral genetic diversity, resulting in different genotypes associated with two subgenotypes, with a special focus on the temporal and geographic spreading in the Americas and Brazil.…”

“…HBV was already detected in two mummies from the 16th century in South Korea and Italy 4,5 . HBV is also long‐established in some populations, like the Amerindians 6,7 …”

Evolutionary history of hepatitis B virus genotype H

“…4,5 New waves of HBV spreading occurred along the time of European migration and the African slave trade to most countries in Central, North, and South America. 1,4,6 HBV belongs to the Hepadnaviridae family and it is classified into ten major genotypes (A-J), diverging in more than 8% in the nucleotide sequence over the total genome. 7 HBV genotypes A-D are worldwide distributed, with HBV-A and HBV-D being more frequent in Europe, America, and Africa, and HBV-B and HBV-C in Asia.…”