Assessment of Hepatitis C virus genotypes in regular dialysis patients of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Globally viral hepatitis is a major health problem. HCV is a causative agent of hepatitis and is responsible for acute and chronic hepatitis leads to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. This study was carried out to know the HCV genotypes in Dialysis patients in NWFP (Pakistan). The age ranged from 15-65 years. During this study a total of 63 samples were collected and were analyzed for HCV genotypes. RNA was extracted from whole blood; reverse transcribed into cDNA and was subjected to multiplex PCR. Of these 63 samples, 14 were genotyped as genotype 3a was found in 9(64.28%) patients, followed by genotype 3b (21.42%) in 3 and 2a in 2(14.28%) patients. Three positive samples remained untyped. In age group 31 to 40 years, the number of positive patients were comparatively greater.

Investigation and Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Genotypes in Pregnant Women

ABSTRACT Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes severe liver infection and is spread through blood transmission from infected person to healthy individuals. HCV is more common in less developed countries due to poor hygienic conditions. This condition can be worse in pregnant women, where HCV can infect the fetus and may lead to chronic infections and may cause cirrhosis and carcinoma. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to study the distribution and prevalence of HCV in pregnant women in the Pakistani population, where such data are unavailable. Blood from 72 HCV-positive pregnant women was collected, RNA was extracted and nested PCR was performed for genotyping using genotypespecific primers. The most frequent genotype was found to be 3a (79%), followed by 3b (4%), 1a (4%), 1b (2%) and mixed genotypes (2%). The severity of HCV, reaction to therapy, and prognosis depend on several factors and one of the most important factors is genotype. Hence, this study will pave the way for the adoption of efficient therapeutic models to control HCV in high-risk populations.

The performance of HCV GT plus RUO reagent in determining Hepatitis C virus genotypes in Taiwan

Background and aims Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotyping is a pivotal tool for epidemiological investigation, guiding management and antiviral treatment. Challenge existed in identifying subtypes of genotype-1 (G-1) and genotype (GT) of indeterminate. Recently, the Abbott HCV RealTime Genotype Plus RUO assay (HCV GT Plus) has been developed aiming to overcome the limitations. We aimed to evaluate the performance of the assay compared with 5’ UTR sequencing in clinical samples. Materials and methods Eligible individuals were treatment chronic hepatitis C patients that were enrolled consecutively in a medical center and two core regional hospitals in southern Taiwan from Oct 2017 through Aug 2018. The patient with genotype 1 without subtype and indeterminate previously genotyped by Abbott RealTime HCV GT II will further determinate by Abbott HCV RealTime HCV GT Plus. All of the genotype results were validated by 5' UTR sequencing as a reference standard. Results A total of 100 viremic CHC patients were recruited, including 63 G-1 patients (male: 28), and 37 patients (male: 15) of indeterminate genotyped by Abbott RealTime HCV GT II assay (HCV GT II), respectively. The detection rate of 63 GT1 samples without subtype were 93.7% (59/63), 37 indeterminate samples without genotype were 62.2 (23/37) by HCV GT Plus. 5' UTR sequencing confirmed HCV GT Plus characterized results for 84.7% (50/59) of type1, with 100% (4/4), 82.8 (24/29) and 84.6% (22/26) for 1a, 1b and type6; 65.2% (15/23) of indeterminate with 100% (3/3) and 60% (12/20) for 1b and type 6 samples, respectively. Conclusions The Abbott RealTime HCV GT Plus RUO assay provides additional performance in GT detection.