[Four-year follow-up and molecular epidemiologic investigation of intrafamilial transmission of HCV infection].
OBJECTIVE
To study the intrafamilial transmission of HCV infection.


METHODS
Four-year follow-up and molecular epidemiologic investigation of HCV infection in a village was carried out. The diversity of HCV core region was analysed by reverse transcription nested polymerase chain reaction, Okamoto genotyping method, and single strand conformation polymorphism analysis (SSCP).


RESULTS
The incidence of positivity of anti-HCV and -HCVRNA raised from 21.30% (75/352) to 43.18% (152/352). There were 42 families with two or more members serological positive for anti-HCV and/or -HCVRNA. There were a 3.46-fold increase of intrafamilial propagation of HCV infection in the past 4 years. HCV genotyping by Okamoto method showed that 90.67% (136/150) belonged to Type 1b/II, two cases (1.33%) belong to type 2a/III and three cases (2.00%) were co-infection of both types. Comparison of SSCP patterns revealed that the SSCP of HCV cDNA was identical among members of the same family, but the single strand conformation of HCV cDNA exhibited polymorphism patterns in different families.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that the cause of marked increase of HCV infection rate in this village in a 4-year period is mainly because of intrafamilial propagation. SSCP is more feasible for molecular epidemiologic investigation of HCV infection than genotyping.
Liu
A
A
Department of Infectious Disease, Xiangya Hospital, Hunan Medical University, Changsha.
Hu
G
G
Tan
D
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational
D004279:DNA, Viral; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies