Journal
EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Volume 15, Issue 8, Pages 1222-1228Publisher
CENTERS DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION
DOI: 10.3201/eid1508.081642
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- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
- Centre de Recherche Public-Sante
- Bourse Formation Recherche of the Ministry of Research
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In Haiti, >90% of the population descended from African slaves. Of 7,147 Haitian pregnant women sampled, 44% of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections were caused by genotype A1, which today is found mainly in eastern Africa. Twenty percent belong to a rare subgenotype, A5, which has been found only in the former Bight of Benin, a former primary slave trading post. Haitian A subgenotypes appear to have separated early from the African subgenotypes; the most prevalent genotype and subgenotype in West Africa today (E and A3, respectively) are rare in Haiti. This difference indicates that the dominant subgenotypes in Africa emerged in the general population only after the slave trade and explains the low genetic diversity of genotype E. The high prevalence of HBV genotype E in much of Africa further suggests that HBV hyperendemicity is a recent phenomenon, probably resulting from extensive use of unsafe needles.
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