Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran Archives of Iranian Medicine 1029-2977 13 2 2010 02 01 Common HBV Genotype in Southeastern Iranian Patients 147 149 EN Yahya Eftekhari Mohammad Kazemi Arababadi Amir Reza Radmard Hamid Hakimi Ebrahim Rezazadeh Zarandi Journal Article <meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"> <meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Generator"> <meta content="Microsoft Word 12" name="Originator"> <link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Camir%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List" /> <link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Camir%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx" rel="themeData" /> <link href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Camir%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml" rel="colorSchemeMapping" /><style type="text/css">  </style> </meta> </meta> </meta> </meta> Asymptomatic hepatitis B infection is characterized as a type of hepatitis in which hepatitis B surface antigen is present in the patient’s peripheral blood despite the absence of clinical symptoms. Previous studies have shown that a particular genotype may effect clinical manifestations of hepatitis B infection; hence, the aim of the current study was to determine the frequency of hepatitis B virus genotypes among asymptomatic carriers of hepatitis B.<o:p></o:p> In this experimental study, the plasma samples of 100 asymptomatic carriers were collected and tested for HBsAg and anti-HBs using ELISA. The genotype of hepatitis B virus was determined by the GAP-PCR technique. <o:p></o:p> The results of this study showed that all samples were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen and anti-hepatitis B core antigen was present in 60 (60%) cases. Our results also indicated that all patients had the D genotype of hepatitis B virus.<o:p></o:p> Previous studies have shown that the D genotype is prevalent in all clinical presentations of hepatitis B infection in Iran. Hence, based on our results, it can be concluded that the hepatitis B virus genotype may not be associated with asymptomatic hepatitis B infection.