Analysis of genetic heterogeneity of hepatitis C viruses in Central America reveals a novel genetic lineage

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has high genomic variability and at least six different types have been reported. The genotypes distribution is currently unknown among HCV strains circulating in Central America. In order to study the degree of genetic variability of strains isolated in Costa Rica, sequence data obtained from the 5' non coding region from 7 patients from Costa Rica were compared with published sequences from 57 strains of all types. The phylogenetic analysis revealed the existence of type 1 strains of a novel genetic lineage, recently described for some South American countries, and indicates an increasing diversification of HCV.

Comparison of Hepatitis C Viral Loads in Patients with or without Coinfection with Different Genotypes

“…From the 396 patients originally enrolled in our study, 139 patients with HCV RNA levels below 1,000 IU/ml were excluded from further analysis in order to achieve reproducible findings. The genotype and subtype of the remaining 257 patients' HCV isolates were determined by the InnoLipa HCV II assay (Innogenetics, Ghent, Belgium) or by phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences from the 5Ј noncoding region (4,5,19,23), following PCR amplification, as previously described (3,6). To avoid false-positive results, the recommendations of Kwok and Higuchi were strictly adhered to (13).…”