Hepatitis C virus genotypes in patients with chronic liver disease and haemodialysis patients from Saudi Arabia.

The genotypes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) were investigated in 28 Saudi patients (21 males, seven females; age range 23-68 years; mean 45.0 years) with histologically proven chronic hepatitis (13 chronic active hepatitis and 15 liver cirrhosis) and in 32 Saudi patients with chronic renal failure maintained on haemodialysis (22 males, 10 females; age range 18-60 years; mean 40.0 years) who also had liver disease due to HCV. Among the 28 patients with chronic liver disease genotype 4 was the predominant one (60.7%), followed by types 1b (21.4%), 1a (14.3%) and 2a (3.6%). The distribution of genotypes was similar in patients with chronic active hepatitis to those with liver cirrhosis. Among the 32 patients with chronic renal failure and maintained on haemodialysis, genotype 4 was also the dominant type (55.0%), followed by 1a (25.0%), 1b (21.9%) and 2a (3.1%). In all categories studied the prevalence of genotypes between males and females was the same. As our patients were selected from various regions of Saudi Arabia, we believe that genotype 4 is the predominant one throughout the whole kingdom.