Publication:

Distribution of hepatitis C virus genotypes in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection in Karnataka, South India

Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV), an important cause of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV is classified into 6 different genotypes. Genotype of the virus helps in predicting response to antiviral therapy and also the type of therapy. Therefore, it is important to know the prevalence of each genotype. Thus the present study was designed to determine the distribution pattern of HCV genotypes in chronic hepatitis patients in Karnataka, south India.

Methods From October 2012 to September 2016, one hundred and eighty five consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis C infection were included in this retrospective study. Patients were identified from the outpatient registers and data was extracted from liver proforma of medical gastroenterology department, Victoria hospital, attached to Bangalore medical college and research institute, Bangalore. All the patients had anti-HCV antibody-positive test done by ELISA (Tri Dot) test. HCV RNA viral load and genotype was done for all the patients.

Results Genotype 1 was observed in 145 of 185 (78.38%) patients. Genotype 3 was seen in 35 (18.9%) patients. Five (2.7%) patients showed infection with genotype 4. Seventy two patients (38.91 %) were on haemodialysis for chronic kidney disease (CKD). In CKD patients 67 of 72 (93.1%) were infected with genotype 1 and 5 patients were infected with genotype 3 (6.9%).

Conclusions The present findings showed that genotype 1 of hepatitis C virus was the most prevalent genotype in patients with chronic hepatitis C in Karnataka, south India.