Genotype distribution of hepatitis C virus infection in Taiwan

✍ Scribed by Jau-Shin Wu; Han-Fang Lee; Hui-Ling Hsiau; Hsiu-Ying Lu; Wen-Hsiang Chou; Chih-Feng Lu; Hour-Young Chen; Fong-Nien Lee; Pei-Yuan Chen; Kim-Man Tarn

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 642 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.1890440114

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

To investigate the prevalence of genotype distribution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Taiwan, genotypes were identified in 122 (36 anti‐HCV‐positive blood donors, 44 anti‐HCV‐positive aborigines, 28 hemodialysis patients, and 14 patients with chronic liver diseases) of 280 subjects, using polymerase chain reaction by Okamoto's type‐specific primer method. Type II was the dominant (66.7%) type among anti‐HCV‐positive blood donors, followed by type III and type IV with the same percentages (16.7%), while none of type I was detected. The prevalence of genotype distribution were 75.0%, 81.1%, and 64.3% for type 11,4.6%, 17.9%, and 21.4% for type III, 13.6%, 0%, and 7.1% for type IV, for the aborigines, hemodialysis, and chronic liver diseases groups, respectively. Four subjects revealed mixed infections by two different genotypes: two cases of II and III; and each one case of II and IV, and III and IV. Diverse genotype distributions in two hemodialysis groups disclose the existence of obvious regional differences even within a region. The results reveal the highest prevalence of type II as in Japan. However, there is a higher prevalence rate of type IV than in Japan. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, inc.