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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a serious public health problem affecting 170 million carriers worldwide. It is a leading cause of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer and is the primary cause for liver transplantation worldwide. HCV genotype 6 (HCV-6) is restricted to South China, South-East Asia, and it is also occasionally found in migrant patients from endemic countries. HCV-6 has considerable genetic diversity with 23 subtypes (a to w). Although direct sequencing followed by phylogenetic analysis is the gold standard for HCV-6 genotyping and subtyping, there are also now rapid genotyping tests available such as the reverse hybridization line probe assay (INNO-LiPA II; Innogenetics, Zwijnaarde, Belgium). HCV-6 patients present with similar clinical manifestations as patients infected with other genotypes. Based on current evidence, the optimal treatment duration of HCV-6 with pegylated interferon/ribavirin should be 48 wk, although a shortened treatment duration of 24 wk could be sufficient in patients with low pretreatment viral load who achieve rapid virological response. In addition, the development of direct-acting antiviral agents is ongoing, and they give high response rate when combined with standard therapy. Herein, we review the epidemiology, classification, diagnosis and treatment as it pertain to HCV-6.

Original publication

DOI

10.3748/wjg.v20.i11.2927

Type

Journal article

Journal

World journal of gastroenterology

Publication Date

03/2014

Volume

20

Pages

2927 - 2940

Addresses

Vo Duy Thong, Srunthron Akkarathamrongsin, Yong Poovorawan, Center of Excellence in Clinical Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

Keywords

Humans, Hepacivirus, Hepatitis C, Interferons, Interleukins, Antiviral Agents, Treatment Outcome, Genotype, Biological Evolution, Genotyping Techniques