Ostankova Yulia V, Reingardt Diana E, Schemelev Alexandr N, Balde Thierno A L, Boumbaly Sanaba, Totolian Areg A
St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute, St. Petersburg 197101, Russia.
Research Institute of Applied Biology, Kindia 100 BP 75, Guinea.
Microorganisms. 2024 Sep 27;12(10):1959. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms12101959.
According to recent data, there are currently 170 to 200 million people infected with HCV worldwide, and the number of new cases annually is approximately 40,000. Thus, the overall prevalence of the pathogen in the world is about 1.8-3%. The dynamic monitoring of circulating viral variants in specific groups that reflect the situation in the wider population, including potential pathogen spread, is of high importance for predicting the epidemiologic situation. Pregnant women are such a group. The Republic of Guinea is one of the poorest countries in the world, in which medicine receives little finance from the state. Among other conditions, HCV infection is not monitored in the country. This work used blood plasma from pregnant women living in the Republic of Guinea and their partners (1810 and 481). ELISA diagnostic kits were used to detect serologic markers, and PCR diagnostic kits were used to detect molecular biologic markers. Sanger sequencing, followed by phylogenetic analysis, was used for genotyping. The present study shows that HCV antibodies were detected in 3.2% of the pregnant women examined and in 3.33% of their male partners. HCV RNA was detected in 0.5% of cases in women and in all anti-HCV-positive male partners (3.33%). HCV RNA was more common in the men than in the pregnant women (χ = 25.6, df 1, < 0.0001, RR = 6.69 with 95% CI: 2.97-15.04). The HCV viral load was determined for all the RNA-HCV-positive samples. The HCV viral load exceeded 1000 IU/mL in all nine women and only in two cases in men. The HCV genes and and the gene fragment were sequenced for 11 samples. Subtype 2q was determined for three isolates and 2j for another three isolates. Another five isolates could not be confidently assigned a subtype because different results were obtained with different methods of analyzing the three viral regions. It can be assumed that these isolates belong to new viral subtypes or to recombinant forms between genotype 2 subtypes. No drug resistance mutations were identified, but a large number of natural polymorphisms in the analyzed genomic regions of the HCV isolates were shown. These results may serve as baseline data for the future planning of a nationwide estimate of the prevalence of bloodborne infections among pregnant women.
根据最近的数据，目前全球有1.7亿至2亿人感染丙型肝炎病毒（HCV），每年新增病例约4万例。因此，该病原体在全球的总体流行率约为1.8%-3%。对特定人群中循环病毒变异体进行动态监测，以反映更广泛人群的情况，包括潜在病原体传播，对于预测流行病学形势至关重要。孕妇就是这样一个群体。几内亚共和国是世界上最贫穷的国家之一，该国医药领域获得的国家资金很少。在其他条件方面，该国未对HCV感染进行监测。本研究使用了几内亚共和国孕妇及其伴侣（分别为1810人和481人）的血浆。使用酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）诊断试剂盒检测血清学标志物，使用聚合酶链反应（PCR）诊断试剂盒检测分子生物学标志物。采用桑格测序法，随后进行系统发育分析进行基因分型。本研究表明，在接受检查的孕妇中，3.2%检测出HCV抗体，在其男性伴侣中，3.33%检测出HCV抗体。在0.5%的女性病例以及所有抗HCV阳性男性伴侣（3.33%）中检测到HCV核糖核酸（RNA）。男性中的HCV RNA比孕妇中更常见（χ=25.6，自由度1，P<0.0001，相对危险度=6.69，95%置信区间：2.97-15.04）。对所有RNA-HCV阳性样本测定了HCV病毒载量。所有9名女性的HCV病毒载量均超过1000国际单位/毫升，而男性中只有2例如此。对11个样本的HCV基因1和2以及NS5B基因片段进行了测序。确定3个分离株为2q亚型，另外3个分离株为2j亚型。另外5个分离株无法可靠地确定亚型，因为对三个病毒区域进行分析时采用不同方法得到了不同结果。可以假定这些分离株属于新的病毒亚型或2型基因型亚型之间的重组形式。未发现耐药突变，但在HCV分离株的分析基因组区域中显示出大量自然多态性。这些结果可作为未来全国范围内估计孕妇血源感染流行率规划的基线数据。
