Typing hepatitis C virus by polymerase chain reaction with type-specific primers: application to clinical surveys and tracing infectious sources Okamoto, Hiroaki and Sugiyama, Yasushi and Okada, Shunichi and Kurai, Kiyohiko and Akahane, Yoshihiro and Sugai, Yoshiki and Tanaka, Takeshi and Sato, Koei and Tsuda, Fumio and Miyakawa, Yuzo and Mayumi, Makoto,, 73, 673-679 (1992), doi = https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-73-3-673, publicationName = Microbiology Society, issn = 0022-1317, abstract= Based on variation in nucleotide sequence within restricted regions in the putative C (core) gene of hepatitis C virus (HCV), four groups of HCV have been postulated in a panel of 44 HCV isolates. They were provisionally designated types I, II, III and IV. A method for typing HCV was developed, depending on the amplification of a C gene sequence by polymerase chain reaction using a universal primer (sense) and a mixture of four type-specific primers (antisense). HCV types were determined by the size of the products specific to each of them. Type II was found in HCV samples from 131 (82%) of 159 blood donors, more often than in those from 48 (60%) of 80 patients with non-A, non-B (NANB) liver disease in Japan (P < 0.01). In 11 haemophiliacs who had received imported coagulation factor concentrates, type I was found in five, as against type II in four. Double infection with two different HCV types was found in two patients with chronic NANB liver disease (types I and II; II and III) and two haemophiliacs (types I and II; I and III). HCV types were identical in mother and baby in each of two examples of perinatal transmission, and were also identical in donor and recipient in a case of accidental needle exposure., language=, type=