Molecular transmission clusters on HCV genotypes among newly reported HIV/HCV co-infection in Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture of Yunnan province, 2016 / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective: To understand the characteristics on major strain subtypes of hepatitis C virus among HIV/HCV co-infected patients, so as to explore the molecular transmission clusters and related risk factors of HCV strains. Methods: A total of 336 newly reported HIV-infected patients were diagnosed as HIV/HCV co-infection in Dehong Dai and Jingpo autonomous prefecture (Dehong) in 2016. We used Nested PCR to amplify CE1 and NS5B genes among 318 samples with plasma levels above 200 μl, before using the combining phylogenetic tree and constructing molecular propagation network method to analyze the related data. Results: A total of 267 HIV/HCV co-infection patients who had met the HCV genotyping requirements were screened the gene subtypes were diversified. Among these genotypes, proportions of 3b, 6n, 6u, 1a, 3a and other subtypes appeared as 32.6% (87/267), 18.4% (49/267), 15.7%(42/267), 13.1%(35/267), 11.2%(30/267) and 9.0%(24/267) respectively. Molecular transmission network of five major HCV genotypes was constructed with a clustering rate of 39.1% (95/243). The clustering rate of subtype 1a was the highest, as 71.4% (25/35). Results from the multivariate logistic regression showed that ethnic minorities other than the Yi and Jingpo (vs. the Han, OR=0.17, 95%CI: 0.04-0.71), the married spouses (vs. the unmarried, OR=0.42, 95%CI: 0.18-0.94), the 6n and 3a subtype (vs. the 3b subtype, OR=0.34, 95%CI: 0.12-0.95; OR=0.22, 95%CI: 0.05-0.93) were more difficult to form transmission clusters. However, the 6u and 1a subtype (vs. the 3b subtype, OR=3.10, 95%CI: 1.21-7.94; OR=4.00, 95%CI: 1.32-12.11) seemed more likely to form the transmission clusters. Conclusion: Ethnicity, marital status and genetic subtypes were factors significantly associated with the formation of transmission clusters related to the major HCV gene subtypes among newly reported HIV/HCV co-infection in Dehong.