Objective: The determination of the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype is recommended for the appropriate management of HCV infection. In this study, it was aimed to determine the HCV genotype distribution in 375 HCV infected patients with positive HCV RNA.

Materials and Methods: Genotyping of HCV was performed by “real time polimerase chain reaction” (Abbott m2000r=Abbott Molecular Diagnostic, ABD).

Results: Genotype 1 was identified in 234 (62.4%), genotype 2 in 12 (3.2%), genotype 3 in four (1.1%) and genotype 4 in 120 (32%) of the patients. Five (1.3%) samples had mixed infection (1+3, 1+1b+3, 1+1b+3, 1+1b+4, 1+1a+2). Among genotype 1 patients, nine (2.4%) were identified as subtype 1a and 216 (57.6%) were subtype 1b, while in nine (2.4%) samples, subtyping could not be determined.

Conclusion: The prevalence of HCV genotype 4 was found to be higher in Kayseri region than the average in Turkey. The results of this study indicated that further larger scale studies are needed for the determination of the genotypic distribution of HCV in Turkey. The results obtained in this study is thought to contribute to the clinical management and the epidemiology of HCV infection.