New findings in HCV genotype distribution in selected West European, Russian and Israeli regions

Background: HCV affects 185 million people worldwide and leads to death and morbidities. HCV has a high genetic diversity and is classified into seven genotypes and 67 subtypes. Novel anti-HCV drugs (Direct-Acting-Antivirals) eligibility, resistance and cure rates depend on HCV geno/subtype (GT). Objectives: Analysis of epidemiological information and viral GT from patients undergoing viral genotyping in 2011-2015. Study design: Anonymized information from 52 centers was analyzed retrospectively. Results: 37,839 samples were included in the study. We show that the GT distribution is similar throughout Western European countries, with some local differences. Here GTs 1 and 2 prevalences are lower and of GT4 higher than in all previous reports. Israel has a unique GT pattern and in South Russia the GT proportions are more similar to Asia. GTs 5 and 6 were detected in very low proportions. Three cases of the recombinant genotype P were reported in Munich (Germany). In addition, we observed that GT proportion was dependant on patients' gender, age and transmission route: GTs lb and 2 were significantly more common in female, older, nosocomially-infected patients, while GTs 1 a, 3 and 4 were more frequent in male, younger patients infected by tattooing, drug consume, and/or sexual practices. In infections acquired by drug consume, GTs la (35.0%) and 3 (28.1%) prevailed. In infections related to sexual practices lower proportion of GT3 (14.0%) and higher of GT4 (20.2%) were detected. GT4 was mostly abundant in MSM (29.6%). HIV coinfection was significantly associated with higher proportions GTs la and 4 (42.5% and 19.3%, respectively). Conclusion: Genotype prevalence evolves and correlates to epidemiological factors. Continuous surveillance is necessary to better assess hepatitis C infection in Europe and to take appropriate actions. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommongorggicenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).