Afzal Muhammad Sohail, Khan Muhammad Yousaf, Ammar Muhammad, Anjum Sadia, Zaidi Najm Us Sahar Sadaf
Muhammad Sohail Afzal, Sadia Anjum, Najm us Sahar Sadaf Zaidi, Atta Ur Rahman School of Applied Biosciences, National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.
World J Gastroenterol. 2014 Dec 14;20(46):17690-2. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i46.17690.
Pakistan is a low income country with more than 10 million hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections and the burden is on continuous raise. Accurate viral genotyping is very critical for proper treatment of the infected individuals as the sustained virological response of the standard antiviral interferon therapy is genotype dependent. We observed at our diagnostic center that 15.6% of HCV patient's samples were not genotype-able by using Ohno et al method. The genotyped samples showed that 3a (68.3%) is the major prevalent genotype in Pakistan followed by 2a (10.3%), 3b (2.6%), 1b (1.5%), 2b (1.2%) and 1a (0.5%). Presence of large number of untypable HCV variants in the current study highlights an important issue of health care setup in Pakistan. Untypable HCV cases create difficulties in treatment of these patients. The problem of routine diagnostics setup of Pakistan should be addressed on priority basis to facilitate the medical professionals in patient's treatment and to help in achieving the maximum sustained virological response.
巴基斯坦是一个低收入国家，有超过1000万丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染者，且感染负担在持续增加。准确的病毒基因分型对于感染个体的恰当治疗至关重要，因为标准抗病毒干扰素治疗的持续病毒学应答取决于基因型。我们在诊断中心观察到，使用Ohno等人的方法时，15.6%的HCV患者样本无法进行基因分型。已基因分型的样本显示，3a型（68.3%）是巴基斯坦主要的流行基因型，其次是2a型（10.3%）、3b型（2.6%）、1b型（1.5%）、2b型（1.2%）和1a型（0.5%）。本研究中存在大量无法分型的HCV变异体，凸显了巴基斯坦医疗保健体系中的一个重要问题。无法分型的HCV病例给这些患者的治疗带来困难。巴基斯坦常规诊断体系的问题应优先解决，以便利医疗专业人员对患者进行治疗，并有助于实现最大程度的持续病毒学应答。
