SPECTRUM OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS (HCV) GENOTYPES AMONG DIAGNOSED CASES OF HCV IN RAWALPINDI AND ISLAMABAD REGION OVER THE PERIOD OF SIX YEARS

Background: Determination of an individual's HCV genotypes prior to antiviral therapy has become increasingly important for the deciding clinical management and predicting prognosis of HCV infection. Relative genotype proportions are needed to inform to healthcare models, which should be geographically tailored. To our knowledge, there are no studies reporting genotype pattern in Rawalpindi/Islamabad region. We aimed to determine the frequency of different genotypes in HCV positive cases in the population of Rawalpindi/ Islamabad over the period of five years. Methods: Data of total of three thousand eight hundred and eighteen (n=3818) HCV positive adult of both genders were screened for genotype testing over the period of six years were analyzed. Results: Most frequent genotype identified in our study was genotype 3, accounting for 95.8% (n=3657) of HCV positive cases. The second most common genotype was Type 1 accounting for 2.9% (n=109) of HCV positive cases. Other genotypes were Type 2 (0.3%, n=12) and Type 4 (0.1%, n=5). Mixed genotype (Type 1 and 3) were detected in almost 1 % (n=35) of cases. We did not find genotype 5 and 6 in our study sample. No significant difference was observed among males and females in genotype distribution (P>0.05). Conclusion: The most common genotype among HCV patients were found to be genotype 3 followed by genotype 1 as the second most common in Rawalpindi/Islamabad region during the study period.