1. Hepatitis C virus seroprevalence in Russian Federation: results of population based study Preliminary report K.Kyuregyan, N.Soboleva, V.Kichatova, O.Isaeva, M.Mikhailov Chumakov institute of poliomyelitis and viral encephalitides 11th Annual Conference of the Baltic Network Against Life-threatening Viral Infections 24-27 April 2014 Vilnius

2. Hepatitis C incidence in Russian Federation 1997-2013, per 100 000 years

3. Background and aim Current HCV screening recommendations cover all patients with liver disease, blood donors, pregnant women and inpatients at the hospital admission. Real HCV burden in Russia is still unknown The aim of this study is to determine the proportion of HCV-infected individuals who could be missed in current screening programs.

4. 6 regions 10 age groups: 60 Total 6,217 serum samples Moscow region Rostov region Sverdlovsk region Republic Tyva Republic Yakutiya Khabarovsk region Healthy population from 6 regions

5. Methods Anti-HCV screening test: “EIA-ANTI-HCV” (Diagnostic Systems, Russia) Positive result confirmation: second testing (pristine sample) in MONOLISA Anti-HCV PLUS Assay Version 2 Positive result confirmation: EIA-ANTI-HCV- SPECTRUM-G (antibodies to different HCV peptides: core, NS3, NS4, NS5) Anti-HCV - positive

6. Methods All anti-HCV-positive samples Testing for HCV RNA with in house RT-PCR (5’-UTR, sensitivity about 100 copies/ml) Results are ready for 5 regions

7. Rostov region Data on HCV RNA are not available yet

8. Sverdlovsk region

9. Republic Tyva

10. Republic Yakutiya

11. Khabarovsk region

12. Total HCV prevalence by region

13. Proportion of past- and current HCV infection (combined 4 regions)

14. Next steps To finish anti-HCV and HCV RNA testing for all 6 regions To determine HCV genotype for all RNA- positive cases (based on NS5B region partial sequence) To analyze genetic relatedness between HCV isolates in regions of Russia (based on complete NS5 region sequence)

15. Preliminary conclusions Our data demonstrate high rates of exposure to HCV in seniors and in individuals at middle age (30-39 years) who unaware of their infection status. Further population based studies needed to confirm risk factors contributed to HCV spread in these cohorts and to determine the necessity of expanded HCV screening program for such age cohorts.