HIGH PREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS GENOTYPE 1A IN JAPANESE HEMOPHILIACS

Japanese hemophiliacs have received a large number of imported coagula tion factors from the USA as well as domestic ones. We investigated th e prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes in 25 hemophiliacs a nd in 461 patients with chronic hepatitis C in the San-in area, west J apan. The prevalence of HCV genotype 1a was significantly higher in he mophiliacs (36%, P < 0.001) than patients with chronic hepatitis C (0. 2%). Furthermore, the mixed infection of different genotypes was signi ficantly more frequent in hemophiliacs (20%, P < 0.0001) compared to c hronic hepatitis C patients (1%). These results suggest that Japanese hemophiliacs could be infected with HCV genotype 1a by numerous and re peated infusion of imported coagulation factors from the USA.