title: Distribution of hepatitis c virus (hcv) genotypes in patients with chronic infection from Rondônia, Brazil.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important human pathogen affecting around 3% of the human population. In Brazil, it is estimated that there are approximately 2 to 3 million HCV chronic carriers. There are few reports of HCV prevalence in Rondônia State (RO), but it was estimated in 9.7% from 1999 to 2005. The aim of this study was to characterize HCV genotypes in 58 chronic HCV infected patients from Porto Velho, Rondônia (RO), Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  A fragment of 380 bp of NS5B region was amplified by nested PCR for genotyping analysis. Viral sequences were characterized by phylogenetic analysis using reference sequences obtained from the GenBank (n = 173). Sequences were aligned using Muscle software and edited in the SE-AL software. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted using Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation (MCMC) to obtain the MCC tree using BEAST v.1.5.3.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 58 anti-HCV positive samples, 22 were positive to the NS5B fragment and successfully sequenced. Genotype 1b was the most prevalent in this population (50%), followed by 1a (27.2%), 2b (13.6%) and 3a (9.0%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study is the first report of HCV genotypes from Rondônia State and subtype 1b was found to be the most prevalent. This subtype is mostly found among people who have a previous history of blood transfusion but more detailed studies with a larger number of patients are necessary to understand the HCV dynamics in the population of Rondônia State, Brazil.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Tropical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, São Paulo Institute of Tropical Medicine and Department of Gastroenterology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo SP, Brazil. monica.viviana@usp.br
authors.forename: Deusilene S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Mónica V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Alvarado-Mora
authors.forename: Lívia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Botelho
authors.forename: Flair J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Carrilho
authors.forename: João Rr
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Pinho
authors.forename: Juan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Salcedo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny