High prevalence of infection with a single hepatitis C virus genotype in a small rural community of Argentina
| Autor: | María P. Raffa, Donald E. Mosier, Valeria Descalzi, Patricia Baré, Nancy E. Mazzencio, Juan A. Cámera, María V. Bussy, Sonia M. Soria, Federico G. Villamil, Silvina Etchehun, Gaston Picchio |
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| Rok vydání: | 2006 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Rural Population medicine.medical_specialty Adolescent Genotype Hepacivirus Hepatitis C virus Argentina medicine.disease_cause Seroepidemiologic Studies Internal medicine Epidemiology medicine Humans Seroprevalence Risk factor Child Aged Hepatitis B virus Hepatology biology business.industry Alanine Transaminase Hepatitis C Middle Aged medicine.disease biology.organism_classification digestive system diseases Alanine transaminase Immunology biology.protein RNA Viral Female business |
| Zdroj: | Liver International. 26:660-665 |
| ISSN: | 1478-3231 1478-3223 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/j.1478-3231.2006.01290.x |
| Popis: | Background: During the years preceding this study, we noticed a relatively unusual high number of individuals with elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in O'Brien, a small rural town in Argentina. Moreover, four individuals from this town underwent liver transplantation owing to hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced liver cirrhosis. These findings prompted us to conduct a large population-based survey to evaluate the prevalence of HCV in this community. Methods and Results: A total of 1637 individuals were studied. The overall HCV-seroprevalence was 5.7% (93/ 1637), being slightly higher in men (45/769; 5.9%) than in women (48/868; 5.5%). HCV seroprevalence increased with age, reaching a peak rate of 23.9% among individuals between 61 and 70 years of age. HCV RNA was present in 82.7% of all HCV seropositive individuals identified and 100% of them were infected with genotype 1b. ALT elevations were detected in 44% of HCV1 patients and were only observed among viremic individuals. Hepatitis B virus infection was also prevalent (52%) among HCV- seropositive patients. The most common risk factor associated with HCV transmission identified was the apparent use of inadequately sterilized glass syringes by a health care provider serving the community; however, other risk factors may have also played a role in the dissemination of HCV. Conclusions: Our findings provide an explanation for the relative high number of individuals with elevated ALT levels observed in this community and form the basis of future prospective studies on the natural history of genotype 1b infection. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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