Hepatitis C Virus RNA and Genotype in Semen of Primitively Diagnosed Patients Infected with HCV-RNA Infection Amongst the Community of Lahore Cantt

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether Hepatitis C virus is present in the seminal fluid of primitively diagnosed patients and subsequent genotyping of semen-positive samples. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Darul Shifa Clinic and the PCR Lab, Lahore Pakistan, from Apr 2021 to May 2022. Methodology: We studied 100 patients with diagnosed Hepatitis C infection via Polymerase Chain Reaction. The reverse transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction was used to detect the presence of the Hepatitis C virus in the semen of these sample patients. Results: Mean age of enrolled 100 male patients was 33.86±7.9 years. Only 4% of semen samples tested HCV RNA positive, while 96% were negative. The results of multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction revealed that 50% of cases showed genotype 2a and 50% cases showed genotype 3a out of 4 positive cases of HCV RNA. Conclusion: The observed viral prevalence was relatively low; nevertheless, the potential for pathogen dissemination remains significant. These findings contribute to our understanding of disease transmission dynamics and may have implications for epidemiological modeling and public health interventions.