ABSTRACT
Hepatitis C virus shows substantial nucleotide sequence diversity distributed throughout the viral genome. In the present study genotyping for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients was based on RFLP analysis of 5' UTR and using type specific primers of NS5B regions. It was observed that 60% of the patients (30 patients with chronic hepatitis) were infected with variants of genotype 1 and 40% of the patients (4 chronic hepatitis patients, 12 patients with chronic renal failure and 4 cirrhosis) were infected with variants of type 3 of HCV. None of the cirrhotic patients and patients with chronic renal failure, in the present study, were infected with type 1 of HCV. While PCR-RFLP, typing was rapid in conjunction with the primers used for RT-PCR, NS5 typing was helpful in determining the subtype. There was good correlation between the two typing methods and this method can be used as a cost-effective method for studying large number of samples. The study shows that predominant genotypes of HCV in South India include type 1 and 3. Type 3 seems to be transmitted nosocomially as suggested by the results in patients with chronic renal failure, as these patients are exposed to multiple medical interventions.
Subject(s)
Hepacivirus/genetics , Hepatitis C/virology , 5' Untranslated Regions , Adult , Base Sequence , DNA Primers , Female , Genotype , Humans , India , Male , Middle Aged , Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction , Viral Nonstructural Proteins/geneticsABSTRACT
The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the general population and in various high risk groups in south India was assessed. A total of 258 out of 3589 (7.1%) subjects (both general and risk groups) tested positive for HCV RNA by RT-PCR, while the third generation ELISA detected only 6.1% (221/3589). This suggests that a number of cases go unreported, as screening of blood and blood products is done primarily by ELISA. Among 124 chronic renal failure (CRF) patients with a history of renal transplant or haemodialysis, 37% were found to be positive for HCV RNA by RT-PCR. We also found a significantly higher rate of transmission of HCV among people exposed to tattooing (2.8%) and pilgrims (5.8%) (slashing a cultural practice in one sect of Muslims). In addition, our studies also reveal a high prevalence of HCV infection (44%) among patients with Lichen planus. The most prevalent genotype observed in our population was 1b (43.4%) followed by 3b (30.2%). The other genotype 1a was observed in 16.6% of patients followed by 3a observed in 3.4% of the patients. Our findings suggest that HCV may be the major cause of post-transplant hepatitis in Indian patients with CRF and indicate the necessity for stringent screening procedures for these viral infections.