High prevalence of hepatitis C virus genotype 1b infection in a small town of Argentina. Phylogenetic and Bayesian coalescent analysis.

ABSTRACT: Previous studies in Argentina have documented a general prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection close to 2%. In addition, a high prevalence of HCV has been recently reported in different Argentinean small rural communities. In this work, we performed a study aimed at analyzing the origins and diversification patterns of an HCV outbreak in Wheelwright, a small rural town located in Santa Fe province (Argentina).A total of 89 out of 1814 blood samples collected from people living in Wheelwright, were positive for HCV infection. The highest prevalence (4.9%) was observed in people older than 50 years, with the highest level for the group aged between 70-79 years (22%). The RFLP analyses showed that 91% of the positive samples belonged to the HCV-1b genotype. The E1/E2 and NS5B genes w

SUBMITTER: Golemba MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2807465 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature