Abstract

BACKGROUND: More than 170 million people in the world are infected with Hepatitis C virus (HCV). Determination of HCV genotype before starting the treatment is required, because HCV genotype affects the course of treatment and drug dosage. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate HCV genotypes among patients with positive results for anti-HCV in Bandar Abbas from 2011 to 2012. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Five hundred and nine consecutive patients with established chronic HCV infection referred to Behavioral Diseases Consultation Center, Blood Transfusion and Center for Special Diseases from March 2011 to March 2012 were enrolled in this cross sectional study. Five mL of peripheral blood was taken from precipitants and viral RNA extracted after plasma separation. Hepatitis C virus RNA was detected by reverse transcriptase-nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-nested PCR) assay and then HCV genotypes analyzed using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method. RESULTS: In overall, 509 patients enrolled to this study. The mean age of these patients was 38.87 +/- 9.55 years ranging from 1 to 90 years. Routs of transmission were: 238 (46.7) inject of substance, 149 (29.3) unknown rout, 62 (12.2) blood transfusion, 50 (9.8) sexual contact, and 10 (2) mother to child. Frequency of HCV genotypes were: 316 (62.1) 1a, 117 (23) 1b, and 76 (14.9) 3a. there was no significant association between HCV genotypes and gender, educational degree, risk factor of Hepatitis C, job, monthly income, HIV infection, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, Intravenous drug injection, and underlying disease (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This results the same as many similar studies demonstrated that common HCV genotypes in Iranian patients were 1a, 3a and 1b, respectively. Patients with 1a and 1b genotypes have lower responses to interferon treatment, and it is reasonable to perform early screening to diagnose and determine HCV genotype for effective treatment and diagnose high-risk cases.