Possible transmission risks and genotype distribution of hepatitis C virus infection in Western Turkey

The aim of this study was to investigate the risk factors which may be involved in the transmission of hepatitis C virus and to determine the recent distribution of various genotypes in Western Turkey.

The risk determination study consisted of 215 patients whose serum samples were sent to the Medical Microbiology Laboratory at Ege University Hospital between 2005 and 2010 and were anti-hepatitis C virus positive. For the determination of recent genotype distribution, genotyping results of all 535 patients sent to the same laboratory from 2007 to 2011 were analyzed. Information on possible risk factors for the transmission of hepatitis C virus was obtained by a telephone questionnaire. Hepatitis C virus typing was performed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.

The most frequently reported risk factors were history of dental procedures in 171 (79,5%) patients and surgical operations in 137 (63,7%) patients. Genotype 1 was observed in 499 of the 535 patients (93,3%) with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Of these, 69 patients showed infection with subtype 1a (12.9.%) and 430 - with subtype 1b (80.4%). Genotype 3 was determined in 20 patients (3,7%), genotype 2 - in 8 patients (1,5), and genotype 4 - in 8 patients (1,5%).

Even though there is an increase in non-1 genotypes, Turkish patients with chronic hepatitis C still represent a rather homogenous group with genotypic diversity encountered rarely. The risk factors detected in the patients admitted to our hospital are mainly medical procedures which can be prevented by the use of simple infection control practices and implementation of an education program.