A Case of Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Eritrean Diciotti Migrant: Phylogenetic Analysis and ‘mirror effect’

Abstract

A case of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in an Eritrean migrant was described to provide an epidemiological approach based on phylogenetic analysis useful in developing countries with lacking information. Migrant, positive for HBsAg and HBeAg, carried HBV at high copy number. A sequence of HBV HBsAg region was used for phylogenetic relationships and genetic variability investigation. In the phylogenetic tree, the sequence corresponded to D2 HBV genotype and the cluster root dated 7 years ago. These data compared with the date of landing in Italy, suggest that he was infected at least 7 years before his arrival. This approach by ‘mirror effect’ allows the reconstruction of HBV epidemiology in the country of origin, analyzing the migrant population in the host country.

Keywords:

• diciotti
• epidemiology
• Eritrean migrant
• HBV D2 genotype
• HBV sequencing
• phylogenetic analysis

Author contributions

M Fogolari, F Antonelli and E Riva performed virological analysis. E Cella, A Lai, E Ebranati, G Zehender, M Ciccozzi and S Angeletti performed epidemiological and phylogenetic analysis. G Ceccarelli, S Vita and MPL Guarino performed clinical and epidemiological analysis. G Ceccarelli, M Ciccozzi and S Angeletti wrote the manuscript and coordinated the study.

Financial and competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.