ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To determine anti-HCV antibodies and genomic subtype of HCV in 1487 confirmed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive samples. METHODS: A total of 1487 confirmed HIV-positive samples were tested for anti-HCV antibodies by using a third generation ELISA kit (Ortho 3.0) and by RT PCR for HCV. HIV and HCV coinfected samples were selected for HCV genotyping by RFLP and subtyping with NS5-type specific primers. RESULTS: A total of 1487 HIV-infected serum samples were screened for HCV infection, of which, a 1443 (97.04%) were negative and 45 (3.02%) were coinfected. HIV-HCV coinfection was predominant in the age group 41-50 years (51.1%). HCV genotyping and subtyping was done for the 45 HCV RNA-positive specimens of which genotype 1 was observed in 31 (68.8%) and genotype 3 was observed in 14 (31.1%) subjects. Further subtyping analysis showed the genotype 1b in 23 (51.1%), 1a in eight (17.7%), 3a in 10 (22.2%) and 3b in four (8.8%) subjects. CONCLUSION: HIV and HCV seroprevalence is higher in South India, and the most prevalent genotype in coinfection was genotype 1b.
Subject(s)
Adult , Age Factors , Comorbidity , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/methods , Female , Genotype , HIV Infections/complications , Hepacivirus/classification , Hepatitis C/complications , Hepatitis C Antibodies/blood , Humans , India , Male , Middle Aged , Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length , Prevalence , RNA, Viral/blood , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods , Sequence Analysis, DNA , Viral Nonstructural Proteins/genetics , Young AdultABSTRACT
Viral hepatitis caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) represents a major public health problem in India. These viruses share common modes of transmission, such as parenteral routes. We aimed to assess the exposure of a tribal population to these viruses in south India. The present study was carried out on serum samples from 890 individuals (526 males and 324 females) belonging to the Lambada tribe residing in the state of Andhra Pradesh, south India. Anti-HCV antibody and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) status in the sera were analyzed using commercially available enzyme immunoassays (Abbott Labs, Chicago, IL). HCV-RNA and HBV-DNA in the sera was tested by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and PCR, respectively. The infecting genotype of HCV was determined using type-specific primers corresponding to the NS5 region of the virus. Out of the 890 samples, 18 (2.02%; male 11/526; female 7/364) were positive for HCV-RNA by RT-PCR and, 17 of them were positive for anti-HCV antibody. Genotyping of HCV isolates from the 18 individuals positive for HCV-RNA revealed that 66.67% (12/18) were infected with type 1 of HCV and its variants; while in the remaining (6/18), the infecting genotype was found to be type 3 and its variants. A total of 46 samples (5.16%; males 28/526; female 18/364) were positive for HBsAg; while 11 were positive only for HBV-DNA, 9 were positive for both hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and HBV-DNA. Cultural practices such as tattooing, traditional medicine (e.g. blood-letting), rituals (e.g. scarification), body-piercing etc are the potential sources of spread of infection in this tribe. None of the samples analyzed revealed co-infection with the 2 viruses.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Female , Genotype , Hepacivirus/genetics , Hepatitis B/ethnology , Hepatitis B virus/genetics , Hepatitis C/ethnology , Humans , India/epidemiology , Male , Middle Aged , Population Groups/statistics & numerical data , Prevalence , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
Polymorphic allelic variants of chemokine receptors CCR2 and CCR5, as well as of stromal-derived factor-1 SDF-1, the ligand for the chemokine receptor CXCR4, are known to have protective effects against HIV-1 infection and to be involved with delay in disease progression. We have studied the DNA polymorphisms at the loci that encode these proteins in 525 healthy individuals without any history of HIV-1 infection from 11 diverse populations of Andhra Pradesh, South India. The two protective alleles SDF-1-3'A and CCR2-64I at the SDF-1 and CCR2 loci, respectively, are present in all populations studied, although their frequencies differ considerably across populations (from 17% to 35% for the SDF-1-3'A allele, and from 3% to 17% for CCR2-64I). In contrast the CCR5-Delta32 allele is observed only in three populations (Yamani, Pathan and Kamma), all in low frequencies (i.e. 1% to 3%). The mean number of mutant alleles (for the three loci together) carried by each individual varies from 0.475 (in Vizag Brahmins) to 0.959 (in Bohra Muslims). The estimated relative hazard values for the populations, computed from the three-locus genotype data, are comparable to those from Africa and Southeast Asia, where AIDS is known to be widespread.