Prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes in Balochistan

Abstract

A molecular study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of Hepatitis C virus genotypes in HCV infected population of Balochistan. Forty HCV seropositive samples belonging to seven different locations of Balochistan were collected from different health care centres. Qualitative analysis of these samples using PCR resulted in 28 positive samples. The PCR positive samples were subjected to genotyping using the method described by Ohno et al (J Clin Microbiol 35:201-202, 1997) with minor modifications. Genotyping of 28 samples revealed three different genotypes including 3a, 3b and 1a. The most prevalent genotype was 3a with rate of 50% followed by genotype 3b and 1a, respectively. Nine samples remained untyped, suggesting the need of further investigation of genotypes in this region. It has been proposed that sequencing of these samples may be helpful to unreveal these genotypes and further epidemiology of HCV genotypes. Further more, extensive and large scale studies are needed to understand the epidemiology of HCV genotypes, as no such study has been carried in this province.

Molecular study of HCV detection, genotypes and their routes of transmission in North West Frontier Province, Pakistan

“…These results are consistent with the studies reported from other provinces of Pakistan and other countries in the area i.e. India, Nepal and Bangladesh [26] . However, there is a minor difference especially with respect to 3a and 3b prevalence than other studies.…”

Hepatitis C virus in Pakistan: A systematic review ofprevalence, genotypes and risk factors

“…In 2007 it was reported that 81% of individuals had genotype 3 while only 9.5% had genotype 1 [93] . Hakim et al [18] reported in 2008 that 51% of HCV patients had genotype 3a; 24% had 3a/3b co-infection and 16% had genotype 3b, while similar results were also reported by Afridi et al [94] who stated that 50% of HCV patients had genotype 3a followed by 3b and 1a. The most detailed study was conducted by Idrees and Riazuddin in 2008, who performed genotyping of 3351 patients and reported that genotype 3a was the most prevalent genotype in Pakistan; their results are summarized in Figure 1 [95] .…”

Prevalence and risk factors for hepatitis C virus infection in Kech District, Balochistan, Pakistan: most infections remain unexplained. A cross-sectional study

“…Previous studies, mostly conducted in large urban centres, have shown that Pakistan is a high prevalence country [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] with 3-8% of the general population, and 2% of pregnant women being infected [6,8,11]. Major risk factors identified in Pakistan include the re-use of unsterile injection equipment (Pakistan has one of the highest global rates of use of therapeutic injections) [14] and other iatrogenic exposures such as unscreened blood transfusions [4,5,8,12].…”