Prevalence and Genotypic Analysis of Hepatitis C Virus Isolated from Liver Center, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Hepatitis C is a serious concern to public health sector, particularly in developing countries like Pakistan. HCV is the significant cause of morbidity and mortality globally due to the lack of HCV vaccine. HCV genotypes are helpful for analyzing disease severity and start of therapy. Therefore, this study was designed to determine the genotyping of clinically isolated HCV from a Liver Center Faisalabad, Pakistan. A total of 3200 clinical samples were screened for the presence of anti-HCV antibodies by ICT method. Among positive samples, confirmation was carried out by RT-PCR and clustered into four groups (acute, chronic, cirrhotic and hepatocellular carcinoma) on the basis of clinical reports and the patient's history. HCV genotypes were determined by RFLP using amplified products and modified multiplex RTPCR. Out of 3200 clinical samples, 5.37% (n=172) samples were HCV positive by ICT method. Among these, 96 (55.8%) were confirmed for HCV positive patients. Multiplex RT-PCR data showed that 75 (78%) patients had single HCV genotype infection (3a); three with mixed HCV infection (3a/2a, 3a/3b and 3a/1a) while 18 samples had no HCV signal. The current study demonstrated the high prevalence of HCV in our locality with the most prevalent HCV genotype 3a.