Author information

¹Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

²Center for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Disease, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

³Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

⁴Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

⁵Office of Research, UMass Chan Medical School - Baystate, Baystate Medical Center-University of Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA.

⁶Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.

⁷Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

⁸University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.

⁹Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

¹⁰University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

Abstract

Dried blood spots (DBS) have emerged as a promising alternative to traditional venous blood for hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing. However, their capacity to accurately reflect the genetic diversity of HCV remains poorly understood. We employed deep sequencing and advanced phylogenetic analyses on paired plasma and DBS samples from two common subtypes to evaluate the suitability of DBS for genomic surveillance. Results demonstrated that DBS captured equivalent viral diversity compared to plasma with no phylogenetic discordance observed. The ability of DBS to accurately reflect the profile of viral genetic diversity suggests it may be a promising avenue for future surveillance efforts to curb HCV outbreaks.