RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE To investigate the distribution of familial hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes and analyze the relationship between genotypes and clinical outcome. METHODS A total of 136 cases of familial hepatitis B were involved in this study,including 25 cases of asymptomatiec HBV carriers (ASC),85 cases of chronic hepatits B (CHB),24 cases of liver cirrhosis (LC) and 4 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Nested polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (ntPCR-RFLP)was used to identify the genotypes of HBV. RESULTS There were 124 cases with hepatitis genotype C,7 cases with genotypes B+C mixed,3 cases with genotype B and 2 cases that did not conformed to be any of genotypes from A to H. Genotype C in the HCC was predominant genotype (100%),next in the LC(96%),CHB (95.3%) and ASC(66.7%).Compared with genotype C,genotypes B and B+C only existed in ASC and CHB,the proportion was 9.5% vs 23.8% and 1.2% vs 2.3%,respectively. There were no other HBV genotypes from A to H seen in familial hepatitis B in Shanxi province. CONCLUSIONS HBV genotype C is the major one in familial hepatitis B in Shanxi. There are a few genotypes B and B+C existed. Genotype C induces a relatively bad prognosis.