In this study spanning a decade, HCV genotype 3 and genotype 1 were found to be the predominant genotypes in the Indian sub-continent. Genotype 4 and genotype 6 appeared to show some geographic restriction. A continued monitoring of HCV genotypes is essential for the optimum management of these chronically infected patients. In addition, knowledge of circulating genotypes could impact on future vaccine formulations.

The enzyme immunoassay-based 'in-house' HBsAg neutralization assay is a feasible alternative to the commercial HBsAg confirmatory assay. This technique is easily adaptable, cost-effective and reliable for the confirmation of HBsAg in a low resource setting, enhancing the overall quality of HBsAg screening.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells are reported to be one of the extrahepatic replication sites contributing to the persistence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Whole-blood and plasma samples from 61 individuals were compared as sources for the detection of HCV RNA. Forty-four of the individuals were receiving antiviral therapy, while 17 were treatment naïve. The quantitation of HCV RNA was done by a sensitive in-house real-time reverse transcription-PCR. When the viral loads in the two types of samples were compared, a correlation coefficient of 0.858 (P < 0.001) was found, indicating that plasma and whole blood are equally acceptable sources for testing for HCV RNA.Approximately 18 million people in India are estimated to be infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) (13). HCV infection is chronic in 75% to 85% of infected individuals (3). Chronic HCV infection can lead to hepatocellular carcinoma after many years. Even though hepatocytes are the major replication site for HCV, a broad range of extrahepatic complications and diseases are associated with chronic HCV infection. These include mixed cryoglobulinemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, cutaneous vasculitis, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, neuropathy, lymphoproliferative disorders, porphyria cutanea tarda, lichen planus, and Sjogren's syndrome (1, 7). HCV is reported to replicate in extrahepatic sites like interstitial cells of the kidney, acinar cells of the pancreas, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and mononuclear cells of lymph nodes (5,14). Currently, the diagnosis of HCV infection is achieved by the detection of HCV RNA in plasma or serum. Testing for HCV RNA in plasma or serum might give a false-negative result if HCV RNA is present inside peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or as precipitates of immune complexes and cryoglobulin aggregates. Hence, the recovery of RNA from whole blood is likely to help with the diagnosis of HCV infection in individuals with low HCV loads, since both intracellular RNA and plasma RNA are detected. This can also have implications in the monitoring of individuals receiving antiviral therapy (12). Screening for HCV by the use of wholeblood samples will be useful, since all blood components are screened and the time required to separate plasma and serum is saved (leaving the remaining sample usable for serology). This study was done to investigate whether whole blood is more sensitive than plasma for the detection of HCV RNA and to assess the impact of testing of whole blood on the viral load result.Blood samples were collected from 61 patients who came to the Department of Clinical Virology, Christian Medical College, as referrals from the Departments of Hematology, Gastroenterology, and Nephrology. All patients were recruited after they provided verbal consent, in addition to a general consent that is obtained in our hospital for all investigations as part of our routine patient management. These 61 patients consisted of 44 men and 17 women with a mean age of 42 years (age range, 16 to 66 years). Of thes...

This study shows that the 5'NCR-based PCR-RFLP and the HCV core type-specific PCR-based assays correctly identified HCV genotypes except genotype 6 from this region. Direct sequencing of the HCV core region was able to identify all the genotype 6 from this region and serves as an alternative to NS5b sequencing.

To analyse the response rate and the predictive values of virological, biochemical and histological factors on HCV antiviral therapy in HCV genotype 3 infected patients, we retrospectively studied 21 HCV genotype 3 infected patients, who underwent HCV antiviral therapy. Low (57%) sustained viral response (SVR) rate and significant association of SVR with normalization of alanine transaminase (ALT) levels were observed in our study. Absence of early viral response (EVR) showed high (80%) predictive value on SVR. Absence of EVR and normalisation of the ALT levels can predict the outcome of HCV antiviral therapy.