Prevalence of hepatitis C virus genotypes in Mexican patients

Worldwide HCV studies have documented its large genetic variability; HCV has major genetic groups called genotypes that are designated from 1 to 6, as well as > 50 subtypes. This is very important considering that treatment response varies according to genotype. The purpose of this trial was to ascertain prevalence of HCV genotypes in a group of patients from 10 states in Mexico.

This study enrolled patients from 22 hospitals throughout the country. Patients tested positive to hepatitis C antibody and genotyping was preformed by Lipa method. To carry out a comparison, two regions were arbitrarily defined, the northern region embodied the cities of Culiacan, Torreón, Monterrey, Ciudad Obregón, and Tijuana, while the central-southern region embodied Mexico City, Guadalajara, León, Puebla, and Veracruz.

The test was performed on a total of 421 patients. The most frequently found genotype was genotype 1, present in 70.55% of cases. The majority (40.1%) corresponded to genotype 1b, 17.81% to 1a, and genotype 2a/2c (11.64%). A total of 29.4% of samples corresponded to genotypes non-1. Genotype 1 was found in 72.34 (northern region) and 70.03% (central-southern) of the two regions, and genotypes non-1 in 27.66 and 29.97%, respectively.

We conclude that the most frequent genotype in Mexico is 1b, followed by 1a, and, in third place 1b1a, for a total of 70.55%; the remaining 29.45% had genotypes other than 1.