Evidence of increasing diversification of hepatitis C viruses

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has high genomic variability and, since its discovery, at least six different types and an increasing number of sub-types have been reported. The HCV genotype may influence virus replication, the natural course of disease and the response to therapy. HCV has been described as a dynamic population of heterogeneous, closely related variants, designated quasispecies, In order to study the degree of genetic variability of strains isolated in Montevideo, Uruguay, sequence data obtained from the 5 non-coding region of type infected patients were compared with published sequences from 53 different strains of all types isolated all over the world. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that type 1 strains isolated in Montevideo represent a different genetic lineage from major sub-types la and Ib strains and indicates an increasing diversification of HCV indicates an viruses.