Circulation of an atypical hepatitis C virus (HCV) strain at a dialysis unit in northeast India

A high infection rate of HCV (26%) was detected in the dialysis unit of a tertiary care hospital. All the strains of HCV were of the same genotype and subtype 3  f. This is the first time an outbreak of HCV 3f subtype is reported. AbstractPatients undergoing hemodialysis are at an increased risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The implementation of standard infection control measures can substantially decrease the risk of infections and other nosocomial infections. To study the HCV infection rates and genotypes in maintenance hemodialysis subjects in a dialysis unit. A total of 196 maintenance hemodialysis subjects were tested for HCV RNA for one year at a tertiary care teaching hospital in northeast India continuously. Genotyping was performed using direct sequencing (Sanger sequencing) of the 5 ′UTR‐core region. The HCV infection rate was 26.0%. On phylogenetic analysis, 29 sequences clustered around genotype 3 and subtype 3f were observed. High sequence similarities (75–100% homology) were observed among the isolated sequences. High molecular similarities in the isolates from the sa me dialysis unit with a high infection rate (26.0%) over a relatively short period of study (10 months) indicated an ongoing nosocomial transmission. Nosocomial transmission by subtype 3f is rare, and it has not been reported in dialysis cases previously. The strain is most likely evolving from com mon strains such as 3b or 3i and may spread due to migration or movement of people....
Source: MicrobiologyOpen - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research