Objective: To explore the transmission routes, genotypes/subtypes distribution and genetic character of HCV in HIV/HCV co-infected and HCV mono-infected individuals in Guangdong Province.
Methods: Reverse transcription (RT) nested PCR was performed to amplify the HCV NS5B gene region from 95 HIV/HCV co-infected and 99 HCV mono-infected individuals lived in Guangdong province. The PCR products were then sequenced for HCV subtyping. Genetic analysis was done by MEGA4 software.
Results: (1) HIV/HCV co-infected individuals infected HCV mostly through injection drug use (IDU, 78.9%), the HCV subtypes were identified as 6a (53.7%), 3a (17.9%), 1b (15.8%), 3b (11.6%) and 1a (1.0%) respectively, the genetic distance within subtype 1b was longer than those within other subtypes, the predominant HCV subtype in HIV/HCV co-infected individuals infected through IDU was 6a (60.0%). (2) HCV mono-infected individuals infected HCV mostly through blood or blood products transfusions (80.8%), the HCV subtypes were identified as 1b (67.7%), 6a (17.2%), 3a (6.1%), 2a (5.0%), 3b (2.0%), 4a (1.0%) and 5a (1.0%) respectively, the genetic distance within subtype 1b was also longer than those within other subtypes, the predominant HCV subtype in HCV mono-infected individuals infected through blood or blood products transfusions was 1b (76.2%).
Conclusion: The diversity of HCV subtypes in HIV/HCV co-infected and HCV mono-infected individuals in Guangdong Province was high, both the major transmission route and HCV subtype between HIV/HCV co-infected individuals and HCV mono-infected individuals were different.