{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.030627871362940276, 'fraction_numerical': 0.021439509954058193, 'mean_word_length': 5.222222222222222, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Clinical and molecular characterization of chronic hepatitis B in Albania: A country that is still highly endemic for HBV infection

Albania is a Mediterranean country, still with a high endemicity level of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The chronic hepatitis B profile was characterized in this geographical area and used as a model to investigate the impact of endemicity level on the prevalence of the two major forms of chronic hepatitis B (HBeAg‐positive and HBeAg‐negative chronic hepatitis B). A cross‐sectional study was conducted among 62 chronic hepatitis B patients consecutively admitted to the most important tertiary health care center for the diagnosis and treatment of liver disease in Albania. HBV‐DNA was measured with an in‐house PCR with a sensitivity of 104 copies/ml which uses primers encompassing the pre‐core/core region. PCR products were subjected to sequencing and oligohybridization assay. Of the 62 patients, 75.8% had HBeAg‐negative chronic hepatitis B. Genotype D was found in all 39 patients with detectable HBV viremia, for whom the heterogeneity of the region modulating HBeAg expression was assessed. Basic core promoter (BCP) mutations (1762/1764) were observed more often in anti‐HBe‐positive and older patients. In more than 90% of the HBeAg‐negative chronic hepatitis B patients with detectable viremia, HBV that carries the G to A pre‐core mutation at nucleotide 1896 was found. Patients with HBeAg‐positive chronic hepatitis B were younger than HBeAg‐negative chronic hepatitis B patients, and for symptomatic and asymptomatic liver‐disease patients, the age of peak prevalence was at least 10 years lower for HBeAg‐positive chronic hepatitis B patients. In conclusion, the virological and clinical pattern of chronic hepatitis B in Albania is similar to that observed in other Mediterranean countries; it seems to be independent of the HBV endemicity level. J. Med. Virol. 75:20–26, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.