Department of Microbiology, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Guwahati, India.
Department of Microbiology, Dhubri Medical College and Hospital, Dhubri, India.
Indian J Med Res. 2024 Jul;160(1):43-50. doi: 10.25259/ijmr_1222_23.
Background & objectives Hepatitis C virus (HCV) exhibits extensive genetic diversity in infected hosts. There are few published reports of HCV genotype (GT) distribution from the north-east Indian States lying close to the 'Golden Triangle' known for illicit drug trafficking. Real-time knowledge of HCVGT distribution is important for studies on epidemiologic aspects and virus evolution and for the development of new target-specific, direct-acting antiviral drugs. This study aims to examine the distribution of HCVGTs and their subtypes in different risk groups from Assam, north-east India. Methods It is a hospital-based cross-sectional study. Plasma samples reactive for anti-HCV antibody in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were subjected to viral load test and genotyping by real-time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) or characterization of non-structural protein NS5B region by nested PCR. Nucleotide sequences were subjected to phylogenetic analysis. Results The most common HCVGT detected was GT-3 (95.89%), followed by GT-1 (3.42%), GT-6xa (0.34%) and GT-8 (0.34%). The mean age of subjects was 30.24 yr, and males outnumbered females. The most commonly associated risk factor was injecting drug use (IDU) (74.31%), followed by tattooing and/or piercing (33.22%), transfusion of blood/blood products (10.27%), and haemodialysis (9.25%). Co-infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was found in 17.8 per cent, and with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) in 3.42 per cent of the cases. Interpretation & conclusions The detection of HCVGT-8 makes this the first report from Assam and the second from India as per the authors' knowledge. This may indicate strain's endemic nature in India. The increasing trend of HCV infection among young IDUs and HCV-HIV co-infection indicates the need for enhancing surveillance and intensified prevention efforts among young adults.
丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）在受感染的宿主中表现出广泛的遗传多样性。在靠近以非法贩毒而闻名的“金三角”的东北部印度邦，有关 HCV 基因型（GT）分布的报道很少。实时了解 HCVGT 分布情况对于研究流行病学方面和病毒进化以及开发新的针对特定靶点的直接作用抗病毒药物非常重要。本研究旨在检查来自印度东北部阿萨姆邦不同风险群体的 HCVGT 及其亚型的分布情况。
这是一项基于医院的横断面研究。酶联免疫吸附试验（ELISA）中对 HCV 抗体呈反应性的血浆样本进行病毒载量检测和实时逆转录-聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）基因分型，或通过巢式 PCR 对非结构蛋白 NS5B 区进行特征分析。核苷酸序列进行了系统发育分析。
检测到的最常见 HCVGT 是 GT-3（95.89%），其次是 GT-1（3.42%）、GT-6xa（0.34%）和 GT-8（0.34%）。研究对象的平均年龄为 30.24 岁，男性多于女性。最常见的相关风险因素是注射吸毒（IDU）（74.31%），其次是纹身和/或穿孔（33.22%）、输血/血制品（10.27%）和血液透析（9.25%）。17.8%的病例合并感染人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV），3.42%的病例合并感染乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）。
检测到 HCVGT-8 是首次从阿萨姆邦报道，也是据作者所知，第二次从印度报道。这可能表明该毒株在印度具有地方性。在年轻人 IDU 中 HCV 感染呈上升趋势，以及 HCV-HIV 合并感染表明需要加强对年轻人的监测和强化预防措施。
