Distribution of Hepatitis C Virus Genotypes in the South Marmara Region

Aim: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important caustive agent of hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma both in our country and the world. Prognosis and response to treatment is related with the genotype of HCV which has six genotypes and over a hundred quasispecies. Knowing the HCV genotype is also important for epidemiological data. In this study we aimed to investigate the HCV genotypes of samples sent to Uludag University Hospital Microbiology Laboratory which is the reference centre in the South Marmara Region. Material and Method: This study was done retrospectively to analyse the HCV patients' sera sent to our laboratory between July 2010 and December 2012 for HCV genotyping. Artus HCV QS-RGQ PCR kit (Qiagene, Hilden, Germany) was used in Rotor-Gene Q (Qiagene, Hilden Germany) for detection of HCV RNA. HCV RNA positive samples of patients' sera were were used for genotyping by the Linear Array HCV genotyping test (Roche, NJ, USA). Results: 214 (92.6 %) of total 231 patients included in the study were genotype 1, one (0.4 %) was genotype 2, nine (3.9 %) were genotype 3 and, seven (3.4 %) were found genotype 4. Three of genotype 3 patients were of foreign nationality, two were born abroad and one of the genotype 4 patients were born abroad. Discussion: Concordant with our country data the most frequent genotype was 1, genotype 2 was seen in patients especially related with foreign countries and genotype 4 was seen rare. The importance of genotype 1, which is seen more frequent in our country and region is; resistance to antiviral treatment and prolonged treatment duration in chronic hepatitis C patients.