title: [Chronic hepatitis C virus infection: is there a correlation between HCV genotypes and the level of viremia?].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA status and HCV genotypes have become extremely important for exact diagnosis, prognosis, duration of treatment and monitoring of antiviral therapy of chronic HCV infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  For the purpose of precise and objective assessment of virologic analyses, such as the determination of the number of virus copies and virus genotypes, 110 patients with chronic HCV infection were tested Genotyping of HCV isolates and HCV RNA quantification were performed by using the PCR method. Genotype 1b infection was verified in 49.1% of patients, genotype 3a infection was found in 28.2%, genotype 4 in 9.1%, genotype 2 in 4.5%, while mixed genotype infections were diagnosed in 9.1% of cases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients infected by genotype 1b had significantly higher serum HCV RNA level in relation to patients infected by other genotypes (p < 0.05). Over 70% of patients infected by genotype 1b had more than 2 x 10(6) virus copies in 1 ml of blood, while in genotypes 2, 3a and 4, the percentage was 40%, 38.5% and 30%, respectively. Male patients had approximately 7.7 x 10(6) virus copies in 1 ml of blood, which was significantly higher in comparison with female patients (2.3 x 10(6) copies/ml; p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results are in concordance with the results of other authors reporting that genotype 1b is predominant in Europe, as well as significantly higher incidence of viremia in patients with genotype 1b infection in relation to other HCV genotypes. Based on these results, we can conclude that our patients, most commonly, present with severe clinical course of chronic HCV infection and require longer treatment (48 weeks), which causes economic problems.
authors.affiliation: Klinicki centar Srbije, Institut za infektivne i tropske bolesti, Beograd. infectro@eunet.yu
authors.forename: Dragan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Delić
authors.forename: Zorica
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nesić
authors.forename: Jasmina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Simonović
authors.forename: Neda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Svirtlih
authors.forename: Ljubisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dokić
authors.forename: Gorana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nesković
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D014766:Viremia
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral