GENOMIC CHARACTERIZATION OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS ISOLATES FROM ARGENTINA

Thirty-three Argentinian patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV ) were studied for viral genotyping. The patients included 10 hemophil iac and 4 polytransfused children and 19 adults: 3 polytransfused, 7 d ialyzed and 9 sporadic cases. Core-based genotyping permitted the clas sification of 31 samples. Genotypes II, I and V were the most frequent : 21 (63.6%), 16 (48.4%) and 10 (30.3%) of the 33 patients, respective ly. Only one polytransfused patient carried genotype IV. Genotype II w as detected in 7 out of 9 sporadic cases. Thirteen patients (39.3%) we re coinfected with two genotypes, and 2 others were coinfected with th ree genotypes. The remaining 2 samples which could not be typed were c haracterized following the restriction fragment length polymorphism (R FLP) method, and were classified as type 1. One of these had two conse cutive transitional mutations in the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR). (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.