THE PREVALENCE OF VIRAL HEPATITIS С AMONG LABOR MIGRANTS ARRIVING IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Aim. To determine of the prevalence of viral hepatitis C markers in migrant workers. Materials and methods. Blood serum samples from 1,333 migrant workers recently arrived in Russia from Uzbekistan (n = 464), Tajikistan (n = 415), Ukraine (n = 308) and Moldova (n = 146) were analyzed. Anti-HCV were tested using commercial ELISA tests. HCV RNA was tested in RT-PCR. HCV genotype was determined by sequencing of HCV core region. Results. The rate of anti-HCV detection was high regardless of the country of origin: 4.5% (Uzbekistan), 4.8% (Tajikistan), 3.9% (Ukraine), 4.8% (Moldova). Proportion of seropositive individuals with current HCV infection confirmed by presence of viral RNA was 52.9%. Vast majority of HCV infection cases were associated with viral genotype 1b (63.6%), 3a was second prevalent genotype (27.3%). Phylogenetic analysis with time scale demonstrated absence of close relation between HCV sequences from migrants and from Russian population, indicating the source of infection in migrants within their countries of origin. Conclusion. The high prevalence of hepatitis C markers in labor migrants suggests a high probability of the importation of HCV in the Russian Federation. Thus, inclusion of hepatitis C testing into routine screening of labor migrants might be beneficial.