Determination of the Viremia and Genotype Distribution of the Hepatitis C Virus and the Seroprevalence of HIV Co-Infection.

Objective: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection represents a significant public health concern. In order to contribute to the epidemiological data, the present investigation aimed to examine the prevalence of antibodies against the virus, viremia, incidence rates of co-infections with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and the genotypes (GTs) of HCV among patients in the capital city of Turkey.

Materials and methods: This study was conducted retrospectively at Sincan Training and Research Hospital between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2023. The patients' demographic data were obtained from the hospital database. The samples of patients were analyzed for the presence of anti-HCV by using Architect anti-HCV kit (Abbott Laboratories, USA) and MAGLUMI HIV Ab/AgCombi (SNIBE, Shenzen, China), and for the presence of HCV-RNA (QIAsymphony). They were also analyzed using the SP/AS method (Qiagen, Germany) with the QIAsymphony DSP virus/pathogen midi kit, and the polymerase chain reaction was performed by using the Rotor-Gene-Q (Qiagen, Germany) and Artus HCV QS-RGQ kit. Genotyping for HCV was conducted on all patients with detectable viral load. To confirm the presence of HIV in patients with viremia, a supplemental assay for HIV-1/2 (Bio-Rad, USA) was employed. Additionally, the HCV/HIV co-infection rate was calculated.

Results: A total of 63,226 patient samples were analyzed. Of the 522 patients who were found to be anti-HCV positive, 267 were patients admitted from prison. Anti-HCV prevalence among inmates in 2021, 2022, and 2023 was 3.8%, 4.2%, and 2.7%, respectively. The study revealed a prevalence of 0.8% for HCV antibody positivity and a viremia prevalence of 0.4%. Among 239 patients, HCV GT3 (27.9%) was found to be the most common GT, and this was followed by GT1 (26.2%), GT2 (7%), and GT4 (4.1%). Genotyping revealed that subtype 1b was present in 36.5% of GT1 patients, and subtype 1a was present in 33.3%. HCV/HIV co-infection rates were detected as 4.1%.

Conclusion: Our study will contribute to the elimination programs of HCV, an important public health problem, and the epidemiological data in our region.