title: The changing epidemiology pattern and frequency distribution of hepatitis C virus in Pakistan.
abstract: Information regarding the changing pattern in hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes/subtypes and resulting disease outcome is not well known. The specific objective of this study was to find out the frequency distribution of HCV genotypes and changing pattern of various HCV genotypes overtime in well-characterized Pakistani HCV isolates. The genotype distribution of HCV from all the four provinces of Pakistan was tracked for a period of 10 years (2000-2009) on total 20,552 consecutive anti-HCV and HCV RNA positive patients sample using type-specific genotyping assay. Of these, 16,891 (82.2%) samples were successfully genotyped. Of these 11,189 (54.4%) were males and 9363 (45.55%) were females. Of the successfully genotyped samples, 12,537 (74.2%) were with 3a, 1834 (10.9%) with 3b, 50 (0.24%) with 3c, 678 (3.3%) with 1a, 170 (0.83%) with 1b, 49 (0.24%) with 1c, 431 (2.1%) with 2a, 48 (0.23%) with 2b, 3 (0.01%) with 2c, 13 (0.06%) with 5a, 12 (0.06%) with 6a, 101 (0.49%) with 4, and 965 (4.7%) were with mixed-genotype infection. A changing pattern of HCV genotypes prevalence was observed in Pakistan overtime, with an increase in the relative proportion of genotype 3a and mixed genotypes and a decrease of genotypes 3b, 2b, 4, 5a and 2a. This changed HCV genotype pattern might have direct impact on HCV disease outcome and new therapeutic strategies may be needed.
authors.affiliation: National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of the Punjab Lahore, 87-West Canal Bank Road, Thokar Niaz Baig, Lahore 53700, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sadia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Butt
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Idrees
authors.forename: Haji
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akbar
authors.forename: Irshad
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: ur Rehman
authors.forename: Zunaira
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Awan
authors.forename: Samia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Afzal
authors.forename: Abrar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shahid
authors.forename: Sobia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manzoor
authors.forename: Shazia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rafique
mesh_terms: D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA