A low cost real-time PCR to quantify HBV DNA in the serum of chronic patients is a need in most developing countries. A novel quantitative real-time PCR assay was developed at CIGB, Havana using a commercial amplification system and standards and specific primers for the S gene, both produced in-house. Serum samples from 78 Cuban chronic carriers were quantified by the newly developed real-time PCR assay and by the commercial “artus HBV LC PCR kit” from Qiagen.The correlation between both real-time PCR systems was calculated as R = 0.90. Preliminary results from this study demonstrate that the new qPCR system is comparable to the standard commercial "artus HBV LC PCR system".

Through the time HBV has evolved in multiple genetic variants based on the variability of 8% of the HBV genome sequences. Then the HBV has been classified in 10 genotypes (A to J) which also have different subgenotypes. On the other hand, some researchers has demonstrated the association between the specific genotype of the HBV and the severity of the HB disease/response to viral treatment.We investigate the particular genotype of 100 patients of the HBV Cuban population through PCR and sequencing. The genotypes found in the Cuban sample of HBV patients were basically two: genotype A (70%) and genotype D (30%), independently of the studied region of