SARS-CoV-2 and mutation RT-qPCR test positivity correlation with ABO and Rh blood types.

Studies show that there may be a relationship between ABO blood type and SARS-CoV-2 transmission. It was aimed to determine by investigating the blood type of patients whose one-step reverse transcription and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) test were positive for SARS-CoV-2. ABO and Rh blood types of individuals whose RT-qPCR test was positive for SARS-CoV-2 were examined and an evaluation was made to identify whether there was a relationship between them or not. The blood type data of 44.928 SARS-CoV-2 positive RT-qPCR test results have been obtained. 17.656 (39.29%) were delta, 8048 (17.91%) were alpha, 800 (1.78%) were beta, and 3000 (6.67%) were omicrons while 15.424 (34.33%) SARS-CoV-2 positive mutation was found to be negative. Our study suggests that O and Rh (-) blood types may provide protection against delta, AB and Rh (+) blood types may hinder omicron infection while A and Rh (+) blood types may be more vulnerable to alpha and delta while B and Rh (+) are more sensitive to beta mutation. The molecular mechanism underlying the relationship between blood types and SARS-CoV-2 infection needs further molecular studies and multi-centered studies.

[Determination of hepatitis C virus genotype distribution in Mersin province, Turkey]. / Mersin ilinde hepatit C virusu genotip dagiliminin belirlenmesi.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a member of the Flaviviridae family and the RNA genome e x hibit high genetic heterogeneity. Six major genotypes were phylogenetically determined and each genotype contains different subtypes. The distribution of HCV genotypes varies geographically throughout the world. Determination of viral genotype has great importance in the selection of antiviral therapy, treatment duration and monitoring the response to treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the distribution of HCV genotypes in Mersin province located at the Southern part of Turkey. A total of 236 patients (137 females, 99 males; mean age: 53.28 ± 14.99 years) with chronic HCV infection who were admitted to Mersin University Hospital Microbiology Laboratory during March 2010-May 2012 period were included in the study. The patients were anti-HCV (ELISA; Abbott Laboratories, USA) and HCV-RNA (Cobas TaqMan 48, Roche Diagnostic, USA) positive. HCV genotype analysis was determined by using a commercial LiPA kit (Line Probe Assay; AMPLIQUALITY HCV-TS; AB Analitica, Italy) based on the reverse hybridization of amplification products of viral 5'-UTR region. Out of the 236 patients, genotype 1b was observed in 84.7% (n= 200), genotype 3a in 4.2% (n= 10), genotype 1 in 3.8% (n= 9), genotype 1a/1b in 2.1% (n= 5), genotype 4a in 2% (n= 2), genotype 1a in 1.7% (n= 4), genotype 2b in 1.3% (n= 3), genotype 2 in 0.4% (n= 1), genotype 2a/2c in 0.4% (n= 1) and genotype 6 in 0.4% (n= 1). In the cases infected with genotype 1b, statistically significant differences were detected between gender distribution with the mean serum ALT (46.14 IU/L in females, 63.9 IU/L in males; p= 0.029) and HCV-RNA (634 x 103 IU/L in females, 20 x 105 IU/L in males; p= 0.005) levels. This was the first study that reflected the distribution of HCV genotypes in southern Turkey region. Genotype 1b, associated with poor prognosis and which had the highest prevalence in Turkey, was also determined as the most common genotype with a rate of 84.7% in our region. In addition, low rates of genotype 1a, 2b, 3a and 4a which were identified with low frequency in our country and newly introduced genotype 6 were also demonstrated.

Determination of genetic diversity of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains in Turkey using 15 locus MIRU-VNTR and spoligotyping methods.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of deaths from infectious disease worldwide. Nowadays, the tendency of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) to spread between continents due to uncontrolled migration movements shows that TB is a global health problem. The number of studies for the detection of MTBC strains' epidemiological features in areas with TB spread risk using molecular-based methods such as spoligotyping and Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Unit (MIRU) Variable Number Tandem Repeats (VNTR) at the clonal level is insufficient. In this study, it was aimed to determine the phylogenetic relationships of MTBC strains at the species level by spoligotyping and 15 locus MIRU-VNTR (MIRU-VNTR15) molecular methods of 96 multidrug-resistant (MDR) MTBC strains isolated from sputum samples of patients with a preliminary diagnosis of pulmonary TB or suspected contact history those sent to National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory from the centers that are members of the Tuberculosis Laboratory Surveillance Network. The phylogenetic relationship between 96 MDR-TB strains was investigated with the combination of bead-based spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR15 methods on the MAGPIX® Milliplex Map device. In this study, it was determined that the T1 family is more common in our country and LAM7-TUR family is less common than the Beijing family unlike other studies. It was determined that the strains in the same cluster had different locus profiles, and there was no transmission from the same clone in the clonal typing we performed with spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR15.