DISTRIBUTION FREQUENCY OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS GENOTYPES IN PATIENTS ATTENDING LIAQUAT UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL JAMSHORO/HYDERABAD

Objective: To assess the frequency of different genotypes of Hepatitis C virus in patients attending Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) Jamshoro Sindh. Methodology: This descriptive cross sectional study was carried out at Department of Medicine at Liaquat University hospital Jamshoro from June to December 2012. A total of 107 patients with Hepatitis C fulfilling the selection criteria and with informed consent were included in the study. Blood samples were taken from patients for HCV genotyping. A qualified pathologist performed HCV genotyping. Results: Total 107 patients of Hepatitis C were selected by non probability consecutive sampling. Mean age was 36.58 ± 10.5 years. Fifty six (52.3%) were male and fifty one (47.7%) were female. The commonest genotype was genotype 3 (72.9%) followed by genotype 2 (18.7%), genotype 1 (7.5%) and genotype 4 (0.9%). The commonest HCV genotype 3 subtype was subtype a (73.8%) followed by subtype b (25.2%) and subtype c (0.9%). Conclusion: HCV genotype 3 with distribution frequency of 72.9% and subtype a with distribution frequency of 73.8% were the commonest in our study population.