• Benjy Yi-Min Soh, Rajneesh Kumar, Victoria Sze-Min Ekstrom, Clement Yi-Hao Lin, Sobhana Thangaraju, Hwee Huang Tan, Kwai Peng Chan, Lina Hui Lin Choong, Diana Teo, and Wan Cheng Chow.
• Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore.
• Singapore Med J. 2019 Jan 1; 60 (1): 343934-39.

IntroductionTo study the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in blood donor (BD), haemodialysis (HD) and intravenous drug user (IVDU) populations in Singapore and assess the IL28B polymorphism if HCV positive.MethodsThe BD population were healthy volunteers, the HD population were patients who were on haemodialysis for at least six months of follow-up between January 2009 and December 2014. IVDU population was from inmates at halfway houses who consented.ResultsBetween 2011 and 2014, of 161,658 individuals who underwent screening prior to blood donation, 95 (0.059%) were positive for HCV. Of the 42 sera available, common genotypes (GTs) were GT-3 (47.6%) and GT-1 (31.0%). Of 1,575 HD patients, 2.2% were anti-HCV positive. The HCV GT distribution was HCV GT-1 (32.4%), HCV GT-3 (20.5%) and GT-6 (8.8%). 83 halfway house inmates were screened. Of the 47 IVDUs, 36.2% were anti-HCV positive with predominant GT-3 (%). IL28B polymorphism was noted to be CC predominantly 85.3%.ConclusionPrevalence of HCV infection has decreased in both the BD and HD populations. However, it remains high in the IVDU population. GT-1 remains the most common in the HD population; however, GT-3 infection is now more common among the BD population in Singapore. IL28B - CC is the predominant variant among the HCV-infected individuals in Singapore.Copyright: © Singapore Medical Association.

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