Seroprevalence and Genotypic Distribution Patterns of Hepatitis C Virus among Infected Patients from Erbil Province: Kurdistan/Iraq

Background:Hepatitis C virus is a common cause of liver disease, hepatitis C virus exhibits high degree of genetic heterogeneity with characterized regional variations in genotype prevalence. Objective: To determine the prevalence of HCV genotypes in patients of Erbil Province, Kurdistan region/Iraq. Patients and Methods:Blood samples were collected from 165 patients diagnosed positive for HCV antibody, which referral by specialists to Public Health Laboratory in Erbil province (Kurdistan/Iraq) between March 2015 and December 2016 for genotyping. Following extraction of viral RNA, HCV genotypes were determined in each case by using a PCR based genotyping kit. Results: With (37%) genotype 1 was the most frequent genotype detected followed by 3 (27.3%), 4 (20%) and 2 (2.4%), while mixed genotypes were detected in 13.3%. Conclusion: This study gives different estimation of HCV genotypes distribution among infected HCV patients in Kurdistan from prevalent distribution in Iraq and Middle East Arab countries, but comparable to global distribution. Key words: HCV Genotyping, seroprevalence,Liver disease