Prevalence and genetic diversity of HCV among HIV-1 infected individuals living in Ahvaz, Iran

BACKGROUND: To explore the prevalence, transmission routes and genotypes distribution of HCV in HIV-1/HCV co-infected individuals in Ahvaz, Iran. METHODS: The present cross-sectional study was conducted among HIV adult voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) clients, from September to November 2016. Reverse transcription (RT) nested PCR was performed to amplify the HCV core and 5′UTR regions from 90 HIV/HCV co-infected individuals. The PCR products were then sequenced for HCV subtyping. Genetic analysis was done by MEGA6 software. RESULTS: The prevalence of HCV in HIV-1-infected individuals was 58.7%. Injection drug use (IDU) was the most common route (99.1%) of transmission, and most of the patients (97.8%) had a history of imprisonment. The HCV subtypes were identified as 1a (55.2%), 3a (35.8%), 3 h (4.5%), 1b (3%) and 4a (1.5%) respectively, HCV 1a and 3a subtypes were predominant. CONCLUSIONS: The diversity of HCV subtypes in HIV-1/HCV co-infected individuals in Ahvaz city was high, although two subtypes (1a and 3a) are predominant.