title: Prevalence of HCV genotypes in district Mardan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Approximately 170 million people are infected with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) worldwide. The prevalence of chronic HCV infections in Pakistan is about 5%, with most individuals being infected with HCV genotype 3a. Data on HCV genotypes distribution across various districts of the country are scarce. One example is district Mardan from where such data is available only from 17 individuals. Accordingly, the present study aimed at determining HCV genotypes distribution among 177 HCV RNA positive individuals from district Mardan.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum samples (n = 215) from patients suspected of hepatitis C were collected and processed for Nested PCR based detection and subsequent genotyping. Gender-wise and age-wise differences in HCV prevalence and HCV genotypes distribution were determined by χ2 test. Out of the total 215 serum samples, 177 were found to be positive for HCV RNA. The genotype 3a was the most predominant genotype among HCV RNA positive samples with a prevalence of 90.3%, followed by genotype 1a (5.6%), mixed genotypes (2.8%), genotype 3b (0.6%) and genotype 4 (0.6%). The HCV prevalence was higher in young individuals than old people and was indicative of reduced survival rate beyond 40 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HCV genotype 3a is the most predominant genotype in district Mardan. The state of the art preventive and therapeutic strategies should be implemented to control the spread of HCV infections. Further temporal studies involving different geographical areas of Pakistan, are required to improve the control measures for HCV infection.
authors.affiliation: Quality Operations Laboratory, UVAS, Lahore, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Suliman Qadir
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Afridi
authors.forename: Muhammad Nouman
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Zahid
authors.forename: Muhammad Zubair
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Shabbir
authors.forename: Zeenat
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mukhtar
authors.forename: Muhammad Yasin
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Tipu
authors.forename: Fareeha
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Akhtar
authors.forename: Tahir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yaqub
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; 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; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D044967:Serum / Q000821:virology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral