GENOTYPES OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS IN GUANGXI PROVINCE, SOUTHERN CHINA

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been subdivided into at least four genotyp es, and the prevalence of each genotype has been reported to differ wi dely in different countries. Of 304 patients with chronic liver diseas es (68 with chronic hepatitis, 50 with liver cirrhosis and 186 with he patocellular carcinoma) from Guangxi Province in southern China, only 9 (3.0%) had antibodies to HCV as determined by a second-generation en zyme immunoassay with a cut-off index of 2.0 or more. The HCV genotype s of these nine cases were examined using polymerase chain reaction wi th type-specific primers deduced from putative core gene. Seven of the nine cases had type II infection and the other two cases showed doubl e infection with types II and IV. These findings indicate that the pre dominant HCV genotype in the Guangxi area is type II, as is the case i n Japan, although the prevalence of HCV infection in patients with chr onic liver diseases is much lower.