Genotypes of hepatitis C virus circulating in Tunisia.

A. Djebbi (1) , H. Triki (1) , O. Bahri (1) , I. Cheikh (2) , A. Sadraoui (1) , A. Ben Ammar (2) , Koussay Dellagi (3)

1 Laboratoire de Virologie Clinique, Référence Régional OMS pour la Poliomyélite et la Rougeole - Laboratory of Clinical Virology, WHO Regional Reference Laboratory on Poliomyelitis and Measles
2 Department of Gastroenterology
3 Institut Pasteur de Tunis

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) isolates from 93 patients living in Tunisia, including 16 haemophiliacs, were genotyped by INNO LiPA and partial sequencing of the 5' untranslated region of the viral genome. In non-haemophiliacs, subtype 1b was largely predominant (79%), types 1a, 2a, 2b, 3a and 4a occurred much less frequently at 5, 7, 3, 3 and 1% of cases, respectively. In the group of haemophiliacs, a co-dominance between subtypes 1a and 1b was noticed (38%). Type distribution of HCV in Tunisia differs from that reported in other countries of the Mediterranean and Middle East regions. Genotyping results in respect of clinical status, age, and genotyping methods, are discussed.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

A. Djebbi, H. Triki, O. Bahri, I. Cheikh, A. Sadraoui, et al.. Genotypes of hepatitis C virus circulating in Tunisia.. Epidemiology and Infection, 2003, 130 (3), pp.501-5. ⟨10.1017/S095026880300846X⟩. ⟨pasteur-00876290⟩