Molecular Characterization of Hepatitis C Virus Strain Circulated In Chronically Infected Patients in Abidjan (Cote-D’ivoire) (Published)
Viral hepatitis C (HCV) is a public health problem. The therapeutic management and in particular the duration of treatment depends on the viral genotype. HCV is poorly documented in the population and there are few data on the different genotypes and subtypes of HCV circulating in Côte d’Ivoire. In this context, the main objective of this study was to study the genetic variability of the HCV virus in infected patients in Abidjan. We conducted a cross-sectional study at CIRBA from June 2015 to June 2017 which included adult patients with a Viral Load > 1000 IU/mL. HCV genotyping was performed by amplification of the NS5B region followed by sequencing with an ABI 3130 sequencer (Applied Biosystems, Courtaboeuf, France). Phylogenetic trees were produced using MEGA 7 software and genotypes were confirmed using online software (http://hcv.geno2pheno.org). In this study 94 subjects were included. The genotypes encountered were genotypes 1, 2 and 4 with a prevalence of 46%, 52% and 2% respectively. These strains were divided into 17 subtypes genotype 1 : 6 subtypes 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1i, 1k, genotype 2 : 9 subtypes 2a, 2b, 2c, 2c/k, 2f, 2j, 2k, 2l, 2r and 2 subtypes 4f and 4r for genotype 4. The study allowed the implementation of a genotyping technique and monitoring showed that genotypes 1 and 2 are predominant in Côte d’Ivoire. The circulation of genotype 4 is noted.
Keywords: HCV, Sequencing, Treatment., genotype.