Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 18:15:4637-4644.
doi: 10.2147/IDR.S367715. eCollection 2022.

Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Infection, Genotypes and Subtypes in Migrants from Pakistan in Barcelona, Spain

Eva Dopico  1   2 , Francisco Rodriguez-Frias  3   4   5 , Itziar Ubillos  6 , Ariadna Rando-Segura  3 , Damir Garcia-Cehic  4   7 , Josep Gregori  4   7 , Yolanda Rando-Matos  8   9 , Luis Solsona  8   9 , Jordi Niubó  1   2 , Juan Ignacio Esteban  4   7 , Josep Costa  4   10 , Miguel J Martínez  10   11 , Josep Quer  4   5   7
Affiliations

Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Infection, Genotypes and Subtypes in Migrants from Pakistan in Barcelona, Spain

Eva Dopico et al. Infect Drug Resist. .

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver infection with 71 million people infected worldwide. Pakistan has the second highest prevalence of HCV infection and more than half (52%) of Pakistani living in Spain reside in Barcelona. The aim of this study was to analyse the seroprevalence and viraemic rate and determine the genotypes and subtypes of HCV among Pakistanis living in the southern metropolitan area of Barcelona.

Methods: We included all Pakistani patients seeking primary healthcare in the southern metropolitan area of Barcelona from August 2011 to July 2014. Serum samples were screened for HCV antibodies. HCV viral load was determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and genotypes and subtypes were performed using Versant HCV Genotype and/or deep-sequencing. Screening for hepatitis B virus (HBV) was also carried out.

Results: Among 5877 Pakistani patients, 565 (9.61%) were screened for anti-HCV antibodies, with 68 (12.04%) being positive. The viral load was determined in 65, with 31 presenting active infection and the viraemic rate was 47.69% (95% confidence interval 36.02-59.62). HCV genotyping and subtyping were performed in 24 individuals. Most infections corresponded to HCV genotype 3 (91.67%), and high resolution HCV subtyping was performed in 18 samples, 16 of which presented subtype 3a. One subject presented HBV coinfection with undetectable HBV DNA. During the study period, we identified a possible case of HCV vertical transmission followed by spontaneous viraemia clearance in a chronically infected mother with a C/T IL28B genetic polymorphism.

Conclusion: These results suggest that general HCV screening protocols in patients from high prevalence countries, such as Pakistan, would be helpful to identify and treat active HCV infections. This could avoid further transmission and contribute to building targeted health policies for micro-elimination of HCV infection in specific communities.

Keywords: HCV genotype; HCV subtype; hepatitis C virus; migrants.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowcharts defining the enrolled and tested study population after exclusions, and indicating the number of patients.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Geno/Subtype analysis of the Pakistani population (n=24) over the 3-year period analysed by Versant HCV Genotype 2.0 and/or next-generation sequencing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. World Health Organization. Hapatitis C. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hepatitis-c. Accessed August 3, 2022.
    1. Assembly UNG. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. Resolution A/RES/70/1; 2016. Available from: Http://Www.Un.Org/Ga/Search/View_doc.Asp?Symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E. Accessed August 3, 2022.
    1. Razavi H, Robbins S, Zeuzem S, European Union HCV collaborators. Hepatitis C virus prevalence and level of intervention required to achieve the WHO targets for elimination in the European Union by 2030: a modelling study. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017;2(5):325–336. doi:10.1016/S2468-1253(17)30045-6 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Corma-Gomez A, Pineda JA. Hepatitis C virus infection in Spain: challenges in the track to elimination. Enferm Infecc Microbiol Clin. 2019;37(4):219–221. - PubMed
    1. Lazarus JV, Wiktor S, Colombo M, Thursz M. Micro-elimination - A path to global elimination of hepatitis C. J Hepatol. 2017;67(4):665–666. doi:10.1016/j.jhep.2017.06.033 - DOI - PubMed