The Distribution of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Genotypes in 59 HCV Infected Patients: A Multicenter Study

Abstract

Eighty anti-HCV positive serum samples were collected at university centers in Malatya, Erzurum, Samsun and Konya. HCV-RNA sequences were detected in 59 (73.3%) of these samples by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using primers from the 5’ non-coding region. HCV-RNA positive samples were subsequently genotyped using type-specific primers from the core region of the virus. Type II (I b) infection was detected in 41 samples (69.5%), while a mix type I (I a) and II (I b) infection were found in another 3 samples (5.1%). The remaining 15 samples (25.4%) could have not been typed. These results together with the results of previous studies suggest the predominance of genotype II infection in Turkish patients which is known to have poorer prognosis and lower responce to interferon treatment