Prevalence and Clinical Significanceof Hepatitis G Virus Infectionin Patientswith Chronic Renal Failure Undergoing Hemodialysis

Lee, Joon Hyoek; Koh, Kwang Cheol; Paik, Seung Woon; Rhee, Jong Chul; Choi, Kyoo Wan; Lee, Yun Ha; Kim, Yun Gu; Oh, Ha Yung; Lee, Hyo Suk; Kim, Chung Yong

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We aimed to elucidate the prevalence and risk factors of HGV infection in patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis, and to define the potential etiologic-role of HGV in the development of chronic liver disease.
METHODS
One-hundred and seventy-eigh patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis were included. After extraction of RNA from serum, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was performed using the primers from the NS5a region. The PCR products were analyzed by liquid hybridization.
RESULTS
The prevalence was 9.0% (16/178). The prevalence rates were not statistically different according to the presence (8.5%) or abscence (10.8%) of past history of blood transfusion, patient' s age or maintenance duration of hemodialysis (p>0.05). Anti-HBc-positive patients (12.4%, 16/129) showed significantly higher prevalence rate (p=0.01) of HGV infection than anti-HBc-negative patients (0%, 0/49). Twelve of the 14 HGV positive patients without co-infection showed persistently normal ALT level during a year of follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of HGV in patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis is significantly higher than that of volunteer blood donors. HGV may share the route of transmission with adulthood HBV infection. The etiologic-role of HGV in the development of ch ronic liver disease may be considerably poor.