Evaluation of Hepatitis C Virus Genotype and Viremia Prevalence in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Ankara, Türkiye

Objectives: According to 2023 the World Health Organization data, around 50 million people globally have chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, presenting an ongoing public health challenge.This study aimed to evaluate HCV prevalence, viremia rates, and genotype (GT) distribution among HCV-positive cases in Ankara.Materials and Methods: In this study, anti-HCV results from 308,309 patients were evaluated.Anti-HCV tests were analyzed using the Cobas 8000 system, and quantitative HCV ribonucleic acid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were performed on the Cobas 8800 real-time PCR system.A commercial PCR-based Bosphore HCV genotyping kit v5 was used to determine HCV GTs.Results: The anti-HCV prevalence was 0.38%, HCV viremia prevalence was 0.04%, and the viremia rate was 11.1% (131/1,179).The viremia rate was 6.4% in 2022, 12% in 2023, and 10.9% in 2024 (p=0.25).The highest HCV viremia prevalence was in those aged 70 and above (0.07%), while the highest HCV viremia rate (16.7%) occurred in the 0-29 age group (both p<0.001).Among foreign patients, the anti-HCV prevalence, HCV viremia prevalence, and viremia rate were 2.3%, 0.4%, and 18.8%, respectively, whereas in Turkish citizens, these rates were 0.3%, 0.03%, and 10%, (p<0.001,p<0.001, p=0.008, respectively).The most common GT was GT1 (55.7%). Conclusion:This study has demonstrated that HCV prevalence and viremia rates are lower compared to global data.GT1 has been identified as the predominant GT.The higher viremia rates observed in the young population and foreign individuals highlight the importance of early diagnosis and screening programs in these groups.