Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a serious health problem that affects millions of individuals worldwide. About 85% of the HCV patients develop persistent HCV infection that leads to liver cirrhosis with chronic Hepatitis C. HCV genotypes have a diversified pattern of frequency and distribution throughout the world and are critically important in understanding the epidemiological problems. Hepatitis C genotype pattern was studied in different remote cities from all five major geographical divisions of Pakistan. A total of 1000 samples were analyzed for genotype. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate-aminotransferase (AST) measurement is higher for genotype 1a and 1b; mean value of ALT and AST for genotypes were between 67 to 129 IU/L and 56 to 99 IU/L, respectively. Real time quantitation showed that there was high grade infection in most of the HCV screened patients. The most prevalent of genotype is 3a, followed by 3b, 1a, 2a and 1b in Pakistan but Kandiaro, Quetta and Loralai showed different pattern of genotype 1a as 20.9, 21.6 and 20.2%, respectively.

Key words: Hepatitis C virus infection, genotype, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gender ratio, Pakistan.