title: Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Greece: temporal trends in HCV genotype-specific incidence and molecular characterization of genotype 4 isolates.
abstract: This study aimed to estimate the overall HCV genotype distribution and to reconstruct the HCV genotype-specific incidence in Greece during the recent decades. It also focused at the identification of genotype 4 subtype variability in Greek isolates. A total of 1686 chronically infected HCV patients with detectable serum HCV RNA by RT-PCR, belonging to different risk groups were studied. Amplified products from the 5'-noncoding region were typed using a commercially available assay based on the reverse hybridization principle. The HCV genotype-specific incidence was estimated using a previously described back calculation method. HCV genotype 1 was the most prevalent (46.9%) followed by genotype 3 (28.1%), 4 (13.2%), 2 (6.9%) and 5 (0.4%). A high prevalence of genotype 1 (66.3%) in haemophilia patients was recorded whereas HCV genotype 3 was found mainly among patients infected by I.V. drug use (58.2%). Data on the temporal patterns of HCV genotype-specific incidence in Greece revealed a moderate increase (1.3-1.6 times) for genotypes 1 and 4, and a decrease (1.5 times) for genotype 2 from 1970 to 1990, whereas there was a sharp (13-fold) increase for genotype 3. The molecular characterization of 41 genotype 4 HCV isolates belonging to various risk groups revealed that, subtype 4a was the most frequently detected (78%). Phylogenetic comparison of the Greek 4a isolates with all HCV-4a isolates reported worldwide so far revealed a topology which does not discriminate Greek isolates from the others. HCV-4 does not represent a recent introduction in Greece.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katsoulidou
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sypsa
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Tassopoulos
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boletis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karafoulidou
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ketikoglou
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tsantoulas
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vafiadi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hatzis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skoutelis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Akriviadis
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vasiliadis
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kitis
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Magiorkinis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hatzakis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; C087036:NS-5 protein, hepatitis C virus; D012324:RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase