Genotyping of hepatitis C virus in northwest of Iran

Abstract

A study was conducted on patients with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, to identify HCV genotypes in Northwest Iran. Sera from 50 patients with HCV infections were selected to study the HCV genotype in Northwest of Iran. We employed an improved and simplified method of genotyping based on PCR with genotype-specific primers deduced from the core gene. HCV RNA was detected in 28 cases by RT-PCR. Of 28 HCV isolates, 20 (71.4%) were typed as genotype la, 4 isolates (14.2%) 1b, 2 cases (7.1%) 2a and 2 HCV sera were not typed by this assay. Genotype 1 was detected in a significant majority of HCV infected patients in this area. é 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information.