OBJECTIVETo study the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and characteristics on molecular biology related to HCV among patients who were enrolled in a Methadone maintenance clinic in Wuhan.

METHODSSerum samples from 332 injection drug users (IDUs) were obtained and anti-HCV IgG was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbrent assay(ELISA), together with 86 anti-HCV positive specimens genotyped. A reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-nPCR) assay using conserved primers deduced from the core-envelopel (C-E1) region of the HCV genome was employed to amplify a 474 bp fragment. Phylogenetic analysis of the C-E1 sequences was conducted by direct sequencing of the RT-nPCR products and alignment with determined by nucleotide sequencing followed by composition of a phylogenetic tree.

RESULTSThere were 313 cases (94.3%) appeared positive anti-HCV IgG in the 332 patients from a Methadone maintenance clinic in Wuhan. It was demonstrated that there were four different subtypes of HCV in that clinic in Wuhan, including 6a--71 cases (82.5%), 3b--7 cases (8.2%), 1a--5 cases (5.8%) and 1b--3 cases (3.5%).

CONCLUSIONInfection of 6a genotype HCV was predominant in patients from the Methadone maintenance clinic in Wuhan, followed by HCV 3b, 1a and 1b.