Article
Hepatitis C virus genotypes in a northeastern area of Brazil.
Registro en:
SILVA, L. K. et al. Hepatitis C virus genotypes in a northeastern area of Brazil. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, v. 62, n. 2, p. 257-260, 2000.
0002-9637
Autor
Silva, Luciano Kalabric
Paraná, Raymundo
Souza, Sérgio P.
Kay, Alan
Trépo, Christian
Berby, Françoise
Santana, Nelma Pereira de
Cotrim, Helma Pinchemel
Lyra, Luiz Guilherme Costa
Reis, Mitermayer Galvão dos
Resumen
We used a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to obtain the genotypes of circulating hepatitis C virus (HCV) in patients from a Gastro-Hepatology Unit in the city of Salvador (Bahia State) in northeastern Brazil. Viral RNA was detected in 83 (65.4%) of 127 anti-HCV seropositive serum samples. Positivity was significantly associated with alterations in levels of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase (P < 0.05). Genotyping of HCV was performed by RT-PCR using genotype-specific primers from the core region: 24.1% were infected with subtype 1a, 38.6% with 1b, 3.6% with 2, 21.7% with 3a, and 12.0% with a mixed genotype. There was no difference in genotype distribution when compared with results from other Brazilian locations. Surprisingly, the high frequency of genotype 3 in Brazilian samples continues to be different from that reported around the world and warrants further investigation