Jpn.J.Infect.Dis., 52, 121-123, 1999

Short Communication

Seroprevalence and Subtype Distribution of Hepatitis C Virus among Blood Donors and Intravenous Drug Users in Northern/Northeastern Thailand

Chatchawann Apichartpiyakul, Nisarat Apichartpiyakul¹, Yupa Urwijitaroon², Jennifer Gray³, Chawalit Natpratan⁴, Yuko Katayama⁵, Motoko Fujii⁵, and Hak Hotta^{5, 6,*}

Department of Microbiology, and ¹The Central Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50002, ²Blood Transfusion Center, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, ³Mae Chan Hospital, Chiang Rai 57110, ⁴Communicable Disease Control Office, Chiang Mai 50002, Thailand, and ⁵Department of Microbiology, and ⁶International Center for Medical Research, Kobe University School of Medicine, 7-5-1 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku,Kobe 650-0017, Japan

(Received May 28, 1999. Accepted July 5, 1999)

SUMMARY: The prevalence of antibodies against hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the distribution pattern of HCV subtypes were analyzed among healthy blood donors and intravenous drug users (IVDUs) in northern/northeastern Thailand. The prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies was 3.2% (26/820) among blood donors in Khon Kaen, while it was 90% (71/79) among IVDUs in Chiang Rai. HCV RNA was detected in all anti-HCV-positive sera collected from blood donors and IVDUs tested, as determined by reverse transcription-PCR analysis. Sequence analyses of amplified fragments of the HCV genome revealed that in Khon Kaen and Chiang Rai, Thailand,
HCV-3a (50-60%) was the most common HCV subtype, followed by HCV-1a, HCV-1b, and subtypes of clade 6, each at 10-20%.

Corresponding author: Tel: +81-78-382-5500, Fax: +81-78-382-5519,
E-mail: hotta@kobe-u.ac.jp

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