Background: According to many studies, one of the social groups with high rate of HCV infections are prisoners.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine and compare the genotypes distribution among prisoners and patients of hospital.
Patients and methods: HCV genotypes among prisoners (281 inmates) and patients of hospital (1415 patients) were determined in years 2002-2012. HCV genotypes were determined in 2002-2005 with INNO-LiPA HCV II test (Innogenetics, Gent, Belgium) and since 2006 with LINEAR ARRAY assay (Roche, Mannheim, Germany), after isolation and amplification of the material with COBAS AMPLICOR v 2.0 (Roche, Mannheim, Germany).
Results: The most frequent HCV genotype among inmates was genotype 3, which was detected in169 of 281 patients (60.1%). Most frequent genotype among hospitalized was genotype 1, which was found in 1127 cases (79.6%). Comparing the results of prisoners with a group of patients with HIV/HCV co-infection gave similar results. In both groups most frequent was genotype 3 (respectively 60.1 and 45.5%). However, most prisoners in this study (96%) were HIV-negative.
Conclusions: The current study shows that the predominant HCV genotype among inmates from prison in Potulice is genotype 3.
Keywords: HCV; Hepatitis C; Prison.