The objective of this research is to investigate the prevalence and the distribution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients in Andhra Pradesh, India, through different serological and molecular detection methods. We investigated the HCV prevalence in 410 chronic HD patients during 20152017 and evaluated by collecting the different data on their personal status of awareness on HCV infection. The RT-PCR results reviled that few samples that were HCV negative in the tri-dot test (serological method) turned out to be positive in PCR. The HCV Core gene was amplified, cloned, and sequenced, analyzed that the prevalent genotype was found to be 3b. Based on the above studies, it is concluded that HD patients are not effective or sensitive in detecting HCV samples as compared to PCR detection. Hence, extensive precautions and creating awareness in the HD patients is essential to avoid sever contamination. For several HD patients infected with HCV, the awareness of the health care system and bio-safety regulations is not clear.
Key words: Hemodialysis; Hepatitis C virus infection; Molecular Epidemiology; Prevalence; Awareness.
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