DISTRIBUTION OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS SEROTYP ES, ACCORDING TO THE MEANS OF CONTAMINATIONS IN PSYCHIATRIC-HOSPITALS

This retrospective study (January 1990 - April 1995) concerned 100 HIV + patients hospitalized in psychiatric centers. HIV means of contamina tion had been determined for 89 % of these patients as follows: intrav enous drug addicts (IVDA) 64 %; heterosexuals 10 %; homosexual males 1 1 %, and blood transfusion 4 %. The precise means of contamination had not been established in 11 % of the cases. For the total population s tudied, the HCV prevalence was 69 % and 86 % for IVDA. Serotyping is a useful tool when studying the relation between HCV genotypes or serot ypes and pathogenicity or response to interferon alpha therapy accordi ng to the means of contamination. Distribution of HCV serotypes in 57 out 69 HCV+ patients was as follows: 43 % for serotype 1, 2 % for mixe d serotypes 1 and 2, 7 % for mixed serotypes 1 and 4, 2 % for serotype 2, 18 % for serotype 3, 2 % for serotype 4; 26 % of the patients coul d not be serotyped. There is no significant difference in the distribu tion of IVDA serotypes when compared to other means of contamination. However, serotype 4 isolated for the first time in a French psychiatri c hospital, is limited to IVDA in our study. This observation confirms the hypothesis that different endemic zones may be observed according to the way of contamination.