Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Infection among Sickle Cell Disease Patients at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a leading cause of chronic liver disease among sickle cell disease (SCD) patients. Disease progression has been implicated with circulating genotypes of HCV. Determination of RNA and genotypes of HCV in sickle cell disease patients may give an indication of their contribution to the observed clinical manifestations and disease progression which will inform appropriate clinical management. Aim: This study sought to identify and characterize HCV in sickle cell disease patients. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study which enrolled 142 sickle-cell patients from the Ghana Institute for Clinical Genetics, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Patient information was obtained through a questionnaire and 3/mls of whole blood was collected. The plasma obtained was screened by serology and the viral nucleic acid extracted was amplified by reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), with primers targeting the HCV core gene. Amplified DNA were purified and sequenced. Sequenced products were purified and put into the genetic analyzer for analysis. HCV genotypes were obtained by phylogenetic analysis. Results: A total number of 142 SCD patients were recruited in this study with majority of them being females (64%). The median age was 25 years. Seventy-two (51%) had been transfused. Out of the 142 patients’ samples collected 12 (9%) were sero-positive for anti- HCV total antibodies. HCV RNA was amplified from 8 (6%) out of the 142 patients’ samples. One of the 12 seropositives was HCV RNA positive. Five (63%) out of the HCV RNA positive samples were successfully sequenced. The phylogenetic tree constructed with GenBank reference sequences, clustered all five sequences from our study into genotype 1, specifically 1b. Conclusion: This study established the seroprevalence of 9% of total antibodies to HCV among sickle cell patients whilst circulating HCV among the study population were found to be genotype 1 strain.