Τίτλος:
Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Greece: temporal
trends in HCV genotype-specific incidence and molecular characterization
of genotype 4 isolates
Γλώσσες Τεκμηρίου:
Αγγλικά
Περίληψη:
This study aimed to estimate the overall HCV genotype distribution and
to reconstruct the HCV genotype-specific incidence in Greece during the
recent decades. It also focused at the identification of genotype 4
subtype variability in Greek isolates. A total of 1686 chronically
infected HCV patients with detectable serum HCV RNA by RT-PCR, belonging
to different risk groups were studied. Amplified products from the
5’-noncoding region were typed using a commercially available assay
based on the reverse hybridization principle. The HCV genotype-specific
incidence was estimated using a previously described back calculation
method. HCV genotype 1 was the most prevalent (46.9%) followed by
genotype 3 (28.1%), 4 (13.2%), 2 (6.9%) and 5 (0.4%). A high
prevalence of genotype 1 (66.3%) in haemophilia patients was recorded
whereas HCV genotype 3 was found mainly among patients infected by I.V.
drug use (58.2%). Data on the temporal patterns of HCV
genotype-specific incidence in Greece revealed a moderate increase
(1.3-1.6 times) for genotypes 1 and 4, and a decrease (1.5 times) for
genotype 2 from 1970 to 1990, whereas there was a sharp (13-fold)
increase for genotype 3. The molecular characterization of 41 genotype 4
HCV isolates belonging to various risk groups revealed that, subtype 4a
was the most frequently detected (78%). Phylogenetic comparison of the
Greek 4a isolates with all HCV-4a isolates reported worldwide so far
revealed a topology which does not discriminate Greek isolates from the
others. HCV-4 does not represent a recent introduction in Greece.
Συγγραφείς:
Katsoulidou, A
Sypsa, V
Tassopoulos, NC
Boletis, J and
Karafoulidou, A
Ketikoglou, I
Tsantoulas, D
Vafiadi, I and
Hatzis, G
Skoutelis, A
Akriviadis, E
Vasiliadis, T and
Kitis, G
Magiorkinis, G
Hatzakis, A
Περιοδικό:
Journal of Viral Hepatitis
Λέξεις-κλειδιά:
genotype 4; HCV genotypes; hepatitis C virus; molecular epidemiology;
NS5B; phylogenetic analysis
DOI:
10.1111/j.1365-2893.2005.00649.x
