Prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and HCV genotypes of hemodialysis patients in Salvador, Northeastern Brazil

Submitted by Ana Maria Fiscina Sampaio ([email protected]) on 2014-04-28T16:09:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva LK Prevalence of hepatitis....pdf: 591164 bytes, checksum: 581c3941f1ff2cefbde86e7579e4a5ec (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2014-04-28T16:09:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva LK Prevalence of hepatitis....pdf: 591164 bytes, checksum: 581c3941f1ff2cefbde86e7579e4a5ec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisa Gonçalo Moniz. Laboratório de Patologia e Biologia Molecular. Salvador, BA, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisa Gonçalo Moniz. Laboratório de Patologia e Biologia Molecular. Salvador, BA, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisa Gonçalo Moniz. Laboratório de Patologia e Biologia Molecular. Salvador, BA, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisa Gonçalo Moniz. Laboratório de Patologia e Biologia Molecular. Salvador, BA, BrasilFundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisa Gonçalo Moniz. Laboratório de Patologia e Biologia Molecular. Salvador, BA, BrasilUniversidade Federal da Bahia. Faculdade de Medicina. Departamento de Medicina Interna. Salvador, BA, Brasil4Comissão Estadual de Nefrologia. Salvador, BA, BrasilHepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been identified as the major cause of chronic liver disease among patients on chronic hemodialysis (HD), despite the important reduction in risks obtained by testing candidate blood donors for anti-HCV antibodies and the use of recombinant erythropoietin to treat anemia. A cross-sectional study was performed to estimate the prevalence of HCV infection and genotypes among HD patients in Salvador, Northeastern Brazil. Anti- HCV seroprevalence was determined by ELISA in 1243 HD patients from all ten different dialysis centers of the city. HCV infection was confirmed by RT-PCR and genotyping was performed by restriction fragment length polymorphism. Anti-HCV seroprevalence among HD patients was 10.5% (95% CI: 8.8-12.3) (Murex anti-HCV, Abbott Murex, Chicago, IL, USA). Blood samples for qualitative HCV detection and genotyping were collected from 125/130 seropositive HD patients (96.2%). HCV-RNA was detected in 92/125 (73.6%) of the anti-HCV-positive patients. HCV genotype 1 (77.9%) was the most prevalent, followed by genotype 3 (10.5%) and genotype 2 (4.6%). Mixed infections of genotypes 1 and 3 were found in 7.0% of the total number of patients. The present results indicate a significant decrease in anti-HCV prevalence from 23.8% detected in a study carried out in 1994 to 10.5% in the present study. The HCV genotype distribution was closely similar to that observed in other hemodialysis populations in Brazil, in local candidate blood donors and in other groups at risk of transfusion-transmitted infection

Prevalence and genotypes of hepatitis C virus among injecting drug users from Salvador-BA, Brazil

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the major infectious disease agent among injecting drug users (IDUs), with seroprevalence ranging from 50-90%. In this paper, serological and virological parameters were investigated among 194 IDUs, 94 ex-IDUs and 95 non-IDUs that were sampled by the “snowball” technique in three localities renowned for both intense drug use and trafficking activities in Salvador, Brazil. The majority of the participants were male, but sex and mean age differed significantly between IDUs/ex-IDUs and non-IDUs (p < 0.05). Anti-HCV screening revealed that 35.6%, 29.8% and 5.3% of samples from IDUs, ex-IDUs and non-IDUs, respectively, were seropositive. HCV-RNA detection confirmed that the prevalence of infection was 29.4%, 21.3% and 5.3% for IDUs, ex-IDUs and non-IDUs, respectively. Genotyping analysis among IDUs/ex-IDUs determined that 76.9% were infected with genotype 1, 18.5% with genotype 3 and 4.6% with a mixed genotype; this result differed significantly from non-IDUs, where genotype 3 was the most frequent (60%), followed by genotype 1 (20%) and a mixed genotype (20%). We report a significantly higher prevalence of HCV infection in IDUs/ex-IDUs compared to the control group (p < 0.001). Although the sample size of our study was small, the differences in HCV genotype distribution reported herein for IDUs/ex-IDUs and non-IDUs warrant further investigation

Diagnostic Accuracy of Serum Hyaluronan for Detecting HCV Infection and Liver Fibrosis in Asymptomatic Blood Donors

Background: The disease caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV) is asymptomatic, silent, and progressive liver disease. In HCV-infected patients the increase in serum HA is associated with the development of hepatic fibrosis and disease progression. Methods: HCV-RNA detection was performed in all serological samples of blood donors that tested positive using HCV Ultra ELISA. Determination of hyaluronan (HA) was performed in positive HCV samples using ELISA-like fluorometric method. The HA content was compared to HCV viral load, genotype of the virus, liver fibrosis as well as ALT and GGT liver biomarkers. Results: Persistently normal ALT (&lt;40 U/L) and GGT (&lt;50 U/L) serum levels were detected in 75% and 69% of the HCV-Infected blood donors, respectively. Based on ROC analysis, the HA value &lt; 34.2 ng/mL is an optimal cut-off point to exclude HCV viremia (specificity = 91%, NPV = 99%). Applying HA value ≥34.2 ng/mL significant liver fibrosis (≥F2) can be estimated in 46% of the HCV-infected blood donors. HA serum level (≥34.2 ng/mL) associated with a high ALT level (&gt;40 U/mL) can correctly identify HCV infection and probable liver fibrosis (sensitivity = 96% and specificity = 90%) in asymptomatic blood donors. Conclusions: A high level of HA (≥34.2 ng/mL) in association with ALT (≥40 U/L) in serum can provide a good clinical opportunity to detect HCV-infected asymptomatic persons that potentially require a liver biopsy confirmation and antiviral treatment to prevent the development of advanced liver fibrosis or cirrhosis

PYGM mRNA expression in McArdle disease: Demographic, clinical, morphological and genetic features.

IntroductionMcArdle disease presents clinical and genetic heterogeneity. There is no obvious association between genotype and phenotype. PYGM (muscle glycogen phosphorylase gene) mRNA expression and its association with clinical, morphological, and genetic aspects of the disease as a set have not been studied previously.MethodsWe investigated genetic variation in PYGM considering the number of PTCs (premature termination codon) per sample and compared mRNA expression in skeletal muscle samples from 15 patients with McArdle disease and 16 controls to PTCs number and different aspects of the disease.ResultsThe main variant found was c.148C>T (PTC-premature termination codon). Patients with two PTCs showed 42% mRNA expression compared to the control group. Most cases showed an inversely proportional relation among PTCs and mRNA expression. Association between mRNA expression and other aspects of the disease showed no statistically significant difference (p> 0.05).DiscussionmRNA expression is not useful as a predictor factor for the prognosis and severity of the disease. Different mechanisms as post-transcriptional events, epigenetics factors or protein function may be involved