Identification of hepatitis C virus genotype 3 by a commercial assay challenged by natural polymorphisms detected in Spain from patients with diverse origins

High HCV subtype heterogeneity in a chronically infected general population revealed by high-resolution hepatitis C virus subtyping

“…Interestingly, the percentage of G3 cases has decreased considerably over the last 10 years, dropping from 30.1% in 2006 [29] to 9.2% in the present study, and being surpassed by G4 (9.8%). This decrease may result from a combination of factors: genotype classification errors using low-resolution techniques [30], high sustained virological response in G3 patients treated with pegIFN þ Rbv [31], genotype switch in treated inmates [32], or deaths in HCV-infected intravenous drug abusersdin whom G3 infection was prevalent in the 1990sdfor example, caused by HIV coinfection [33].…”