@article {17418,
	title = {Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Greece: temporal trends in HCV genotype-specific incidence and molecular characterization of genotype 4 isolates},
	journal = {J Viral HepatJ Viral HepatJ Viral Hepat},
	volume = {13},
	number = {1},
	year = {2006},
	note = {Katsoulidou, ASypsa, VTassopoulos, N CBoletis, JKarafoulidou, AKetikoglou, ITsantoulas, DVafiadi, IHatzis, GSkoutelis, AAkriviadis, EVasiliadis, TKitis, GMagiorkinis, GHatzakis, AengEngland2005/12/21 09:00J Viral Hepat. 2006 Jan;13(1):19-27. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2893.2005.00649.x.},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {19-27},
	abstract = {This study aimed to estimate the overall HCV genotype distribution and to reconstruct the HCV genotype-specific incidence in Greece during the recent decades. It also focused at the identification of genotype 4 subtype variability in Greek isolates. A total of 1686 chronically infected HCV patients with detectable serum HCV RNA by RT-PCR, belonging to different risk groups were studied. Amplified products from the 5{\textquoteright}-noncoding region were typed using a commercially available assay based on the reverse hybridization principle. The HCV genotype-specific incidence was estimated using a previously described back calculation method. HCV genotype 1 was the most prevalent (46.9\%) followed by genotype 3 (28.1\%), 4 (13.2\%), 2 (6.9\%) and 5 (0.4\%). A high prevalence of genotype 1 (66.3\%) in haemophilia patients was recorded whereas HCV genotype 3 was found mainly among patients infected by I.V. drug use (58.2\%). Data on the temporal patterns of HCV genotype-specific incidence in Greece revealed a moderate increase (1.3-1.6 times) for genotypes 1 and 4, and a decrease (1.5 times) for genotype 2 from 1970 to 1990, whereas there was a sharp (13-fold) increase for genotype 3. The molecular characterization of 41 genotype 4 HCV isolates belonging to various risk groups revealed that, subtype 4a was the most frequently detected (78\%). Phylogenetic comparison of the Greek 4a isolates with all HCV-4a isolates reported worldwide so far revealed a topology which does not discriminate Greek isolates from the others. HCV-4 does not represent a recent introduction in Greece.},
	keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Base Sequence, Child, Cluster analysis, Female, Genotype, Greece/epidemiology, Hepacivirus/*genetics/isolation \& purification, Hepatitis C/*epidemiology, Humans, Incidence, Male, Middle Aged, Phylogeny, polymerase chain reaction, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, RNA, Viral/chemistry/genetics, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Viral Nonstructural Proteins/chemistry/genetics},
	isbn = {1352-0504 (Print)1352-0504 (Linking)},
	author = {Katsoulidou, A and Sypsa, V and Tassopoulos, N. C. and Boletis, J. and Karafoulidou, A. and Ketikoglou, I. and Tsantoulas, D. and Vafiadi, I. and Hatzis, G. and Skoutelis, A and Akriviadis, E. and Vasiliadis, T. and Kitis, G. and Magiorkinis, G and Hatzakis, A}
}
