ArticleThe Lancet. Infectious diseases2016
The spread of hepatitis C virus genotype 1a in North America: a retrospective phylogenetic study.
Article in The Lancet. Infectious diseases, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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31 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Hepatitis C Surveillance in the United States: Past, Present, and Future.Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) · 2025Review
- Trends in Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B Deaths Identify Successes and Disparities, Alameda County, CA, 2005 - 2022.Gastroenterology research · 2025Article
- Epidemiology of Hepatitis C over 28 years of monitoring Canadian blood donors: Insight into a low-risk undiagnosed population.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Incidence of Etiology-specific Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Diverging Trends and Significant Heterogeneity by Race and Ethnicity.Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association · 2024Article
- Spatial-temporal analysis and spatial drivers of hepatitis-related deaths in 183 countries, 2000-2019.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Development and Feasibility Testing of a Multilevel Intervention to Increase Hepatitis C Virus Screening Among Baby Boomers in Primary Care.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2023Article
- Impact of SARS-CoV-2 lockdown on expansion of HIV transmission clusters among key populations: A retrospective phylogenetic analysis.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2022Article
- Unifying Phylogenetic Birth-Death Models in Epidemiology and Macroevolution.Systematic biology · 2021Article
- Quantifying transmission dynamics of acute hepatitis C virus infections in a heterogeneous population using sequence data.PLoS pathogens · 2021Article
- International trends in hepatocellular carcinoma incidence, 1978-2012.International journal of cancer · 2020Article
- The association between etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma and race-ethnicity in Florida.Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver · 2020Article
- Correlates of hepatitis C viral clustering among people who inject drugs in Baltimore.Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases · 2020Article
- Update on Hepatitis C Epidemiology: Unaware and Untreated Infected Population Could Be the Key to Elimination.SN comprehensive clinical medicine · 2020Review
- Liver cancer: A leading cause of cancer death in the United States and the role of the 1945-1965 birth cohort by ethnicity.JHEP reports : innovation in hepatology · 2019Article
- The changing epidemiology of primary liver cancer.Current epidemiology reports · 2019Article
- Population-level intervention and information collection in dynamic healthcare policy.Health care management science · 2018Article
- Economically Efficient Hepatitis C Virus Treatment Prioritization Improves Health Outcomes.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2018Article
- Development of a Comprehensive Dataset of Hepatitis C Patients and Examination of Disease Epidemiology in the United States, 2013-2016.Advances in therapy · 2018Article
- Hepatitis C virus infection and hospital-related outcomes: a systematic review protocol.BMJ open · 2018Article
- Challenges Facing a Rural Opioid Epidemic: Treatment and Prevention of HIV and Hepatitis C.Current HIV/AIDS reports · 2018Review
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe timing of the initial spread of hepatitis C virus genotype 1a in North America is controversial. In particular, how and when hepatitis C virus reached extraordinary prevalence in specific demographic groups remains unclear. We quantified, using all available hepatitis C virus sequence data and phylodynamic methods, the timing of the spread of hepatitis C virus genotype 1a in North America.
methodsWe screened 45 316 publicly available sequences of hepatitis C virus genotype 1a for location and genotype, and then did phylogenetic analyses of available North American sequences from five hepatitis C virus genes (E1, E2, NS2, NS4B, NS5B), with an emphasis on including as many sequences with early collection dates as possible. We inferred the historical population dynamics of this epidemic for all five gene regions using Bayesian skyline plots.
findingsMost of the spread of genotype 1a in North America occurred before 1965, and the hepatitis C virus epidemic has undergone relatively little expansion since then. The effective population size of the North American epidemic stabilised around 1960. These results were robust across all five gene regions analysed, although analyses of each gene separately show substantial variation in estimates of the timing of the early exponential growth, ranging roughly from 1940 for NS2, to 1965 for NS4B.
interpretationThe expansion of genotype 1a before 1965 suggests that nosocomial or iatrogenic factors rather than past sporadic behavioural risk (ie, experimentation with injection drug use, unsafe tattooing, high risk sex, travel to high endemic areas) were key contributors to the hepatitis C virus epidemic in North America. Our results might reduce stigmatisation around screening and diagnosis, potentially increasing rates of screening and treatment for hepatitis C virus.
fundingThe Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.
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