Hepatitis B virus infection is a major global public health problem. According to the latest WHO figures, 2 billion people worldwide have been infected with HBV and approximately 350-400 million of them have chronic infection and are carriers of HBV surface antigen , with a high risk of progression to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It is estimated that more than 300,000 new cases of HCC are observed each year in the world and that one million people die each year from this infection. The HBV population has been classified into eight genotypes from A to H. HBV genotype E predominates over a vast territory ranging from Senegal to Angola. The Central African Republic (CAR) is located in a highly endemic zone where the prevalence of chronic HBV infection is estimated at 15.4% among adults. However, very little work has been done so far despite a high prevalence of infection. We also characterized the HBV strains circulating in CAR by genotyping and studied the clinical, biological characteristics and virological aspects of patients with HCC.
–
