title: Determination of hepatitis C virus genotypes among blood donors in Ahvaz, Iran.
abstract: This study aims to determine the genotypes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among blood donors at Ahvaz Blood Transfusion Centre. Blood samples were taken from 2376 blood donors - 1795 (75.54%) male and 581(24.45%) female - who referred to Ahvaz Blood Transfusion Centre during 2007-2008. Detection of anti-HCV antibody for all the donors was carried out by ELISA and the confirmatory RIBA tests. HCV RT-PCR followed by RFLP test was carried out for anti-HCV positive samples. Out of 2376 blood donors, only 55 (2.3%) male donors showed to be positive for HCV antibody by ELISA and RIBA tests out of which 45(1.8%) donors were positive for RT-PCR test. Female donors were negative for HCV antibody. The result of HCV genotyping by RFLP test showed 24 (53.3%) for 1a, 17 (37.7%) for 3a (a) and 4 (8.8%) for 3a (b) genotypes respectively. In conclusion, high prevalence of 53.3% HCV 1a genotype was observed among blood donors in Ahvaz city.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Faculty of Medicine and Tropical and Infectious Disease Research Centre, Ahvaz Jondishapour University of Medical Sciences, Golestan Blved, Ahvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farshadpour
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Makvandi
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Samarbafzadeh
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Jalalifar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001769:Blood / Q000821:virology; D001782:Blood Donors; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000821:virology*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D012367:RNA, Viral