Author/Editor		Poljak, Mario; Babič, Dunja Z; Vrhovac, Maja; Seme, Katja; Meško, Karmen M
Title		Epidemiology of hepatitis C in Slovenia 1993-2003: data from the Institute of microbiology and immunology
Type		članek
Source		In: Ferlan-Marolt V, Luzar B, editors. Viral hepatitis. Proceedings of the 35th memorial meeting to professor Janez Plečnik with international participation; 2004 Dec 2-3; Ljubljana. Ljubljana: Faculty of medicine, Institute of pathology,
Publication year		2004
Volume		str. 112-8
Language		eng
Abstract		In order to identify the main epidemiological characteristics of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Slovenia, a retrospective epidemiologic study was conducted based on the data of the Laboratory for Molecular Microbiology, Viral Hepatitis and HIV/AIDS at the Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical Faculty of Ljubljana, collected from January 1993 through December 2003. Between 1993 and 2003, a total of 1,851 individuals (1,224 males and 627 females, mean age 36.3 ± 16.4 years) were detected as anti-HCV positive in our Laboratory. HCV RNA was detected in 69.3% of anti-HCV positive individuals. Intravenous drug abuse was identified as the most likely route of HCV transmission in Slovenia, followed by hemodialysis, hemophilia, and transfusion of possibly HCV-contaminated blood and blood products. The HCV genotype/subtype data were available for 867 patients. HCV genotypes 1, 2, 3, and 4 were found in 60.5%, 5.8%, 32.1%, and 1.6% of the patients, respectively. During the last eleven years, notable variations in the distribution of HCV genotypes 3 and 1 among recently identified HCV-infected individuals were observed.
Descriptors		HEPATITIS C HEPATITIS C-LIKE VIRUSES HEPATITIS C ANTIBODIES GENOTYPE RNA, VIRAL AGE FACTORS SLOVENIA