Hepatitis C Support Group
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.
Genotype patterns
It is believed that the Hepatitis C virus has evolved over a period of several thousand years.
This would explain the current general global patterns of genotypes and subtypes:
1a - mostly found in North & South America; also common in Australia
1b - mostly found in Europe and Asia.
2a - is the most common genotype 2 in Japan and China.
2b - is the most common genotype 2 in the U.S. and Northern Europe.
2c - the most common genotype 2 in Western and Southern Europe.
3a - highly prevalent here in Australia (40% of cases) and South Asia.
4a - highly prevalent in Egypt
4c - highly prevalent in Central
Africa
5a - highly prevalent only in
South Africa
6a - restricted to Hong Kong,
Macau and Vietnam
7a and 7b - common in Thailand
8a, 8b & 9a - prevalent in
Vietnam
10a & 11a - found in Indonesia
It is believed that the Hepatitis C virus has evolved over a period of several thousand years.
This would explain the current general global patterns of genotypes and subtypes:
1a - mostly found in North & South America; also common in Australia
1b - mostly found in Europe and Asia.
2a - is the most common genotype 2 in Japan and China.
2b - is the most common genotype 2 in the U.S. and Northern Europe.
2c - the most common genotype 2 in Western and Southern Europe.
3a - highly prevalent here in Australia (40% of cases) and South Asia.
4a - highly prevalent in Egypt
4c - highly prevalent in Central
Africa
5a - highly prevalent only in
South Africa
6a - restricted to Hong Kong,
Macau and Vietnam
7a and 7b - common in Thailand
8a, 8b & 9a - prevalent in
Vietnam
10a & 11a - found in Indonesia
It is indeed recommended that you have a 2 log drop of the viral load by week 12 of the treatment in order to keep going.
As far as whether there is anything that can be done if you don't get the 2 log drop by week 12. Well, there is daily infergen shots but getting insurance carriers to pay for it is a real pain. The only real acceptable HCV treatment as far as the carriers are concerned is the Interferon/Riba combo. A lot of carriers want to see certain responses to treatment in order to continue to authorize the meds.
Keep on Keep'in on.
Mouse
1a S3/G3
Finished tx 4/13/07
Hoping for SVR in Sept.
1) HCV is an extremely heterogeneous family of viruses (as McKenzie pointed out) at least six genotypes and numerous subtypes have been identified
2) HCV genotyping is usually unnecessary for diagnosing infection but is useful for guiding the duration of therapy and predicting the likelihood of response.
3) Genotype 2 and 3 have the highest response rates
Dr O.
I am genotype 1A stage 4 cirrhosis. Have had since the 70's. But my VL count is only 380,000 going into week 10 of Tx.
viral Load 513,000
Stage 3