Abstract
The present study describes the strains of hepatitis C virus (HCV) isolated from Tunisian hemodialysis patients. Thirty-three HCV strains isolated from different dialysis centers in Tunis City were amplified by RT-PCR in a region of the NS5b gene, genotyped by sequencing, and compared to international sequences by phylogenetic analysis. The phylogenetic tree showed that 16 HCV isolates have been identified as subtype 4k (48.5%), 7 as unspecified HCV-4 subtype (21.2%), 5 as subtype 4a et 1b (each 15.2%). The analysis of this tree revealed that the HCV-1b strains were closely related to Anglo-Saxon and European isolates, while the HCV-4 isolates are genetically similar to Egyptian and African strains. Phylogenic analysis of 33 Tunisian isolates with international HCV strains on a region of the NS5b gene demonstrated that the subtype 4k submerged the Tunis city and a new subtype of HCV4 seems to be suspect in this area.