Hepatitis C virus infection and genotypes in Japanese hemophiliacs

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Abstract
Liver function and antibodies to hepatitis C virus and to human immunodeficiency virus‐1 were examined in 195 Japanese patients with hemophilia. One hundred and seventy‐three were positive for antibody to HCV and 61 for antibody to human immunodeficiency virus‐1. In 63 patients, we examined HCV genotypes according to the double polymerase chain reaction method. Forty cases (63%) were infected with hepatitis C virus with a single genotype, including type 1a in five, type 1b in 21, type 2a in seven and type 2b in seven; 16 (25%) were infected with double genotypes, including types 1a+1b in 14, types 1b+2a in one and types 1b+2b in one; and four (6%) were infected with triple genotypes, including types 1a+1b+2a in two and types 1a+1b+2b in two. Genotype could not be determined in three patients by this method. In the 191 non‐hemophiliac patients with chronic hepatitis C, HCV genotyping was as follows: type 1a in 0, type 1b in 121, type 2a in 40 and type 2b in 10 of 171 cases (89.5%) with single infection and types 1b+2a in five and types 2a+2b in one of six (5.5%) with double infection. In the remaining 14 patients, genotype could not be determined. Frequent transfusion of domestic and/or imported coagulation factor concentrates probably caused the high incidence of HCV infection with rare or mixed genotypes in Japanese hemophiliacs.