Hepatitis C virus genotypes in hemodialysis patients in the Federal District, Brazil

Abstract

SUMMARYHepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes and subtypes were determined in hemodialysis patients in the Federal District, Brazil, by sequencing of the 5' noncoding (NC) and nonstructural 5B (NS5B) regions. From 761 patients, 66 anti-HCV-positive samples were tested for HCV RNA. All 51 HCV RNA-positive samples by PCR of the 5' NC region were genotyped as genotypes 1 (90.2%) and 3 (9.8%). Subtype 1a (82.3%) was the most prevalent, followed by subtypes 3a (9.8%), 1b (5.9%) and 1a/1b (2.0%). Forty-two samples could be amplified and genotyped in the NS5B region: 38 (90.5%) as genotype 1, subtypes 1a, and 8 (9.5%) as genotype 3, subtype 3a. For the 42 samples sequenced in both regions, the genotypes and subtypes determined were concordant in 100% and 95.2% of cases, respectively. Two samples presented discrepant results, with the 5' NC region not distinguishing correctly the subtypes 1a and 1b. These findings indicate that the HCV genotype 1, subtype 1a, is the most prevalent among hemodialysis patients in the Federal District, Brazil.

Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection and genotypes in patient with chronic kidney disease undergoing hemodialysis

“…Genotype 1 was the most prevalent (86.1%) in the present study (Table ). Similar prevalence rates of genotypes 1 and 3 have been reported in other Brazilian studies [Silva et al, ; Freitas et al, ; Amorim et al, ]. In contrast, genotype 2 was the second most common and all patients infected with this genotype were from the same dialysis center.…”