Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Nov 27, 2018; 10(11): 807-821
Published online Nov 27, 2018. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v10.i11.807
Genetic diversity of hepatitis viruses in West-African countries from 1996 to 2018
Maléki Assih, Abdoul Karim Ouattara, Birama Diarra, Albert Theophane Yonli, Tegwindé Rebeca Compaore, Dorcas Obiri-Yeboah, Florencia Wendkuuni Djigma, Simplice Karou, Jacques Simpore
Maléki Assih, Abdoul Karim Ouattara, Birama Diarra, Albert Theophane Yonli, Tegwindé Rebeca Compaore, Florencia Wendkuuni Djigma, Jacques Simpore, Biochemistry-Microbiology, CERBA/LABIOGENE, Ouagadougou 02006, Burkina Faso
Maléki Assih, Abdoul Karim Ouattara, Birama Diarra, Albert Theophane Yonli, Tegwindé Rebeca Compaore, Florencia Wendkuuni Djigma, Jacques Simpore, Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Molecular Genetics (LABIOGENE) UFR/SVT, University Ouaga I Prof Joseph KI-ZERBO, Ouagadougou 00226, Burkina Faso
Dorcas Obiri-Yeboah, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast 00233, Ghana
Simplice Karou, Ecole Supérieure des Techniques Biologiques et Alimentaires (ESTBA-UL), Universite de Lome, Lome 00229, Togo
Author contributions: Assih M, Ouattara AK, Diarra B, Yonli AT and Simpore J conceived and designed the study; Assih M, Ouattara AK and Diarra B were involved in independent research of relevant articles; Assih M, Ouattara AK, Diarra B and Yonli AT were involved in full text review of relevant articles; Assih M, Ouattara AK and Diarra B were involved in data extraction, analysis and interpretation; Assih M, Ouattara AK, Diarra B, Yonli AT, Compaore TB, Obiri-Yeboah D, Djigma FW, Karou S and Simpore J were involved with drafting or revising the manuscript; Djigma FW, Karou S and Simpore J provided administrative, technical and material support; supervision of the study was made by Karou S and Simpore J; all authors critically revised and approved the final version of this publication.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Abdoul Karim Ouattara, PhD, Research Associate, Biochemistry-Microbiology, CERBA/LABIOGENE, 01 BP 364, Ouagadougou 00226, Burkina Faso. ak.ouattara02@gmail.com
Telephone: +22-6-70010147
Received: August 2, 2018
Peer-review started: August 3, 2018
First decision: August 20, 2018
Revised: September 10, 2018
Accepted: October 23, 2018
Article in press: October 23, 2018
Published online: November 27, 2018
Processing time: 117 Days and 23.3 Hours
Abstract

The severity of hepatic pathology and the response to treatment depend on the hepatitis virus genotype in the infected host. The objective of this review was to determine the distribution of hepatitis virus genotypes in West African countries. A systematic review of the literature in PubMed, Google Scholar and Science Direct was performed to identify 52 relevant articles reporting hepatitis A, B, C, D, E and G viruses genotypes. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype E with a prevalence of 90.6% (95%CI: 0.891-0.920) found in this review, is characterized by low genetic diversity. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes 1 and 2 represented 96.4% of HCV infections in West African countries, while hepatitis delta virus, hepatitis A virus, hepatitis G virus genotypes 1 and HEV genotype 3 were reported in some studies in Ghana and Nigeria. HBV genotype E is characterized by high prevalence, low genetic diversity and wide geographical distribution. Further studies on the clinical implications of HBV genotype E and HCV genotypes 1 and 2 are needed for the development of an effective treatment against this viral hepatitis in West African countries. Surveillance of the distribution of different genotypes is also needed to reduce recombination rates and prevent the emergence of more virulent viral strains.

Keywords: Hepatitis virus; Mutations; Genotypes; Recombination; West African Economic and Monetary Union

Core tip: The determination of hepatitis viruses genotypes is very important for the management and treatment of infected patients. Indeed, mutation development, disease progression and antiretroviral response are all dependent on the genotype of the infecting virus. Genotype determination is therefore very important to identify patients who are at increased risk of disease progression and to optimize treatment. The objective of this review was to determine the prevalence and distribution of different hepatitis viruses genotypes in 10 West African countries.