Baseline clinical and demographic characteristics.

<p>Baseline clinical and demographic characteristics.</p

Relatedness of 5 occult HBV strains based on complete genome analysis.

<p>The phylogenetic analysis was performed by Bayesian inference using a chain length of 50,000,000 and sampling in every 5000^th generation. The occult HBV strains (represented by in red and also by <b>O</b>-) were compared to complete genome reference sequences from GenBank. Posterior probabilities ≥0.9 are shown.</p

Phylogenetic analysis of HBV isolates from Eastern India with acute infection created using the neighbour-joining method.

<p>Phylogenetic tree was constructed from surface gene sequences of this study (denoted by AEI) along with reference sequences derived from GenBank (denoted by accession numbers).</p

Intrapatient quasispecies diversity of the small surface ORF from chronic and occult HBV/D strains.

<p>Scatter Plots were generated for (A) genetic divergence (%), (B) Shannon entropy, and (C) dN-dS for both groups. 8 chronic and 11 occult HBV/D subjects were included with 10 clones from each individual was sequenced to evaluate quasispecies diversity. Each ■ and ● represents the mean of individual patient values for the occult HBV and chronic HBV groups, respectively, whereas the horizontal bars represent the overall median values for each group.</p

Comparison of nucleotide diversity in acute Vs chronic infection.

<p>Nucleotide diversity in the (A) surface gene, (B) BCP/PC region and (C) X gene has been compared. The nucleotide sequences of the chronic sequences were compared to that of the acute sequences using Shannon’s Entropy. The blue lines indicated the specific positions where changes were noted. The red lines indicate the positions where the frequency of substitution between acute and chronic sequences was significantly different. (D) The average ΔH (average difference in entropy between chronic and acute infection) was highest in the BCP region of the HBV genome. (E) Calculation of genetic diversity at the genotype level showing that the BCP/PC region of genotype C isolates exhibit highest average ΔH.</p

Identification of occult HBV infection among HIV treatment naïve patients.

<p>HBsAg negative/ HIV positive individuals were screened for the presence of HBV DNA to identify occult HBV infection. The HBsAg negative group was stratified into anti-HBc positive and anti-HBc negative groups.</p

Mutational analysis of the HBV polymerase and surface ORFs for the occult HBV subjects.

<p>Mutational analysis of the HBV polymerase and surface ORFs for the occult HBV subjects.</p

Phylogenetic analysis of occult and chronic HBV strains circulating among HIV-infected individuals in eastern India.

<p>The phylogenetic relatedness was analyzed by means of Bayesian Markovchain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach using a chain length of 50,000,000 and sampling in every 5000^th generation and was based on the small surface (<i>S</i>) gene (nt 155–835 from <i>EcoRI</i> site). The occult HBV isolates (represented in red and labelled with <b>O-</b>) and the chronic HBV isolates (represented in green and labelled with <b>C-</b>) were analyzed with respect to GenBank reference sequences (represented in black) which are designated by their respective accession numbers along with their HBV genotypes/subgenotypes and country of origin. Posterior probabilities ≥0.9 are shown. HBV/D was the predominant genotype both among chronic (68.1%) and occult (82.4%) subjects, with HBV subgenotype D1 being widespread in OBI (64.7%) and D2 in chronic infection (42%).</p

Analysis of the association of HBV sub-genotypes with biochemical parameters.

<p>Median (A) ALT (IU/liter) and (B) bilirubin (IU/liter) levels in patients vary with circulating HBV sub-genotypes. Only significant differences (p<0.05) have been marked in the figure.</p

Association of HBV occurrence with the modes of transmission, patients’ age groups and HBV genotypes among samples included in the study.

<p>(A) Sexual promiscuity is the major mode by which HBV is transmitted in the study population. (B) Occurrence of HBV is highest in the age bracket between 15 to 30 years. (C) HBV/D2 is the dominant sub-genotype and is associated majorly with sexual promiscuity. (D) Occurrence of HBV/D2 is highest in the age bracket between 15 to 30 years.</p