Hepatitis C and Human Pegivirus Coinfection in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C from the Brazilian Amazon Region: Prevalence, Genotypes and Clinical Data
, Evelen da Cruz Coelho 1, Joseane Rodrigues da Silva 1, Camila Carla da Silva Costa 1, Regiane Miranda Arnund Sampaio 1, Paula Cristina Rodrigues Frade 1, Nagib Abdon Ponteira 1, Samara Silveira da Cruz 2, Aline Damasceno Seabra 2, Debora Monteiro Carneiro 2, Rommel Mario Rodriguez Burbano 2 and Luisa Caricio Martins 1Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The data provided in the paper is interesting and with potential impact on our understanding of the rates of HPgV-1 and HCV co-infectionin different settings.
Author Response
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Reviewer 2 Report
This is a cross-sectional study of pegivirus prevalence and circulating genotypes in persons with hepatitis C virus infection in Brazil.
Study population and enrollment are well described, although the overall population size (n = 147) is modest. The prevalence of HPgV-1 RNA of 27.9% in this population agrees well with previous reports. There is very little that is new in this study. This would best be reported as a short communication.
Other revisions that are needed included:
Abstract line 3: HCV not VHC. VHC is also used erroneously at other places throughout the manuscript.
HPgV-1 should be the abbreviation used through the manuscript and tables.
How is the current study different / similar to the previous studies referenced (4-7)? Why was another study needed?
Nucleotide positions of the PCR primers relative to a prototype HPgV-1 strain should be provided.
Restriction length polymorphism is not ideal for HPgV-1 genotyping and the actual lab results are never shown! These samples should be sequenced directly for more accurate genotype determination.
There are two viruses in this study – HPgV-1 and HCV. However, the authors frequently do not explicitly state which virus they refer to. Example: Section 2.5: “ . . . that target the 5’ UTR” . . . of what virus?
English editing is needed.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
This is a revision of a cross-sectional study of pegivirus prevalence and circulating genotypes in persons with hepatitis C virus infection in Brazil.
The authors have not addressed two of the most significant comments made previously:
1. How is the current study similar to / different from the previous studies referenced (4-7)? Why was another study of pegiviruses in Brazil needed?
2. Restriction length polymorphism is not ideal for HPgV-1 genotyping and the actual lab results are never shown! These samples should be sequenced directly for more accurate genotype determination. Otherwise, there is a high likelihood of genotype misclassification.
Some editing for English is still needed.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Round 3
Reviewer 2 Report
Accept in current format.
No.
