Viral load in Indonesian patients with chronic liver disease and in blood donors infected with different subtypes of hepatitis C virus.
The viral load of different hepatitis C virus (HCV) subtypes, including the globally distributed HCV-1b and the unique Indonesian subtype HCV-1c, was analyzed using serum samples obtained from Indonesian blood donors and patients with chronic liver disease. The mean viral load of HCV-1c was comparable with that of HCV-1b, suggesting that HCV-1c is as pathogenic as HCV-1b. On the other hand, the mean viral load of HCV-2a was lower than that of HCV-1b or HCV-1c, with this result being consistent with previous observations. Interestingly, some HCV-2a strains were associated with a high viral load that was almost equivalent to that of HCV-1b and HCV-1c. This result implies the possibility that there exists a minor fraction of HCV-2a strains that cause higher levels of viremia compared with the majority of ordinary HCV-2a strains.
Lusida
M I
MI
Tropical Disease Center, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia.
Soetjipto
Handajani
R
R
Nidom
C A
CA
Soemarto
Darmadi
S
S
Adi
P
P
Fujii
M
M
Fujita
T
T
Ishido
S
S
Hotta
H
H
D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D019562:Viral Load; D014766:Viremia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology
D012367:RNA, Viral