Risk factors of hepatitis C virus transmission and genotype distribution in former blood donors from Chinese rural area

BACKGROUND: Illegal commercial plasma and blood donation activities in the late 1980s and early 1990s caused a large number of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in rural areas of China. In the present study, we aimed to elucidate the risk factors of HCV RNA positivity and HCV genotype distribution in former blood donors. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in a former blood donation village in rural Hebei Province, North China. All residents were invited for a questionnaire interview and testing for HCV antibodies as well as HCV nucleic acids. Questionnaires were administered to collect information about their personal status and commercial blood donation history. Nested PCR was used to amplify HCV nucleic acids in C/E1 region and NS5b region followed by genotyping and phylogenetic analysis. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the distributions of HCV genotypes in different groups. RESULTS: A total of 512 blood samples were collected. Anti-HCV positive were 148 (28.5%) whereas RNA positive rate was 13.87%. Residents between 50 and 59 years old had the highest RNA positive rate (27/109, 24.77%) (P = 0.0051). Multivariate logistic regression model analysis revealed that plasma donation (OR = 8.666, 95% CI: 1.390-54.025) was the dominant risk factor of HCV infection. Furthermore, HCV subtypes 1b and 2a were found by genotyping and phylogenetic analysis. 36 samples (53.73%) were subtype 1b and 31 samples (46.27%) were subtype 2a. CONCLUSIONS: Unsafe practices during illegal plasma donation led to a high risk of HCV infection. The identification of genotypes 1b and 2a as major HCV genotypes circulating in this region may help to predict the future burden of HCV related diseases and facilitate better medical treatment towards HCV carriers. These results are useful for public healthcare as well as disease control and surveillance. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1535-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.