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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 21, 2016; 22(27): 6095-6099
Published online Jul 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i27.6095
Hepatitis C virus genotypes in Myanmar
Nan Nwe Win, Tatsuo Kanda, Shingo Nakamoto, Osamu Yokosuka, Hiroshi Shirasawa
Nan Nwe Win, Shingo Nakamoto, Hiroshi Shirasawa, Department of Molecular Virology, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan
Tatsuo Kanda, Osamu Yokosuka, Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan
Author contributions: Win NN and Kanda T performed the research and wrote the paper; Win NN, Kanda T, Nakamoto S, Yokosuka O and Shirasawa H contributed critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Tatsuo Kanda reports receiving lecture fees from Chugai Pharmaceutical, MSD, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Gilead Sciences and receiving grant support from MSD; Osamu Yokosuka reports receiving grant support from Chugai Pharmaceutical, Bayer, MSD, Daiichi-Sankyo, Tanabe-Mitsubishi, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences and Taiho Pharmaceutical; the other authors have no conflict of interest statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Tatsuo Kanda, MD, Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Chiba University, Inohana 1-8-1, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8677, Japan. kandat-cib@umin.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-43-2262086 Fax: +81-43-2262088
Received: April 14, 2016
Peer-review started: April 18, 2016
First decision: May 12, 2016
Revised: May 23, 2016
Accepted: June 13, 2016
Article in press: June 13, 2016
Published online: July 21, 2016
Processing time: 92 Days and 16.1 Hours
Abstract

Myanmar is adjacent to India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos and China. In Myanmar, the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is 2%, and HCV infection accounts for 25% of hepatocellular carcinoma. In this study, we reviewed the prevalence of HCV genotypes in Myanmar. HCV genotypes 1, 3 and 6 were observed in volunteer blood donors in and around the Myanmar city of Yangon. Although there are several reports of HCV genotype 6 and its variants in Myanmar, the distribution of the HCV genotypes has not been well documented in areas other than Yangon. Previous studies showed that treatment with peginterferon and a weight-based dose of ribavirin for 24 or 48 wk could lead to an 80%-100% sustained virological response (SVR) rates in Myanmar. Current interferon-free treatments could lead to higher SVR rates (90%-95%) in patients infected with almost all HCV genotypes other than HCV genotype 3. In an era of heavy reliance on direct-acting antivirals against HCV, there is an increasing need to measure HCV genotypes, and this need will also increase specifically in Myanmar. Current available information of HCV genotypes were mostly from Yangon and other countries than Myanmar. The prevalence of HCV genotypes in Myanmar should be determined.

Keywords: Direct-acting antivirals; Genotypes; Hepatitis C virus; Interferon-free; Myanmar

Core tip: We reviewed the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes in Myanmar. HCV genotypes 1, 3 and 6 were observed in volunteer blood donors in and around the Myanmar city of Yangon. Although there are several reports of HCV genotype 6 in Myanmar, the distribution of HCV genotypes has not been well documented in areas other than Yangon. Previous studies showed that treatment with peginterferon and a weight-based dose of ribavirin for 24 or 48 wk could lead to an 80%-100% sustained virological response in Myanmar.