Korean J Clin Pathol.  1998 Sep;18(3):433-441.

Hepatitis G Virus Infection Rate in Blood Donors, Hemodialysis Patients and Hepatitis C Infected Patients

• Kim KY
• Kim SC
• Lee WK
• Kim JS
• Suh JS
• Song KE
• Cho DK
• Kim JG
• Song DH

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A recently identified Flaviviridae-like agent, termed hepatitis G virus (HGV), has been recognized as a non A-E hepatitis agent, but its relation to liver disease and transmission mode are not well understood. We investigated HGV infection rate in Korea and tried to clarify its relation to the liver disease.
METHODS
145 blood donors, 39 hemodialysis patients and 22 hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected persons were investigated for the presence of HGV by nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (nested RT-PCR) with primers from the 5' UTR of HGV and some liver function tests. In each PCR assay, one positive and two negative controls were included.
RESULTS
HGV-RNA was detected in 11 (7.6%) of 145 young voluntary blood donors and in 5 (12.8%) of 39 hemodialysis patients and in 8 (36.4%) of 22 HCV infected patients. All HGV RNA positive hemodialysis patients have a past history of transfusion, but they had a remarkably shorter duration of hemodialysis than those of HGV-negative patients. HCV infected patients with HGV-RNA tended to be younger than those without HGV-RNA. In all 15 HGV-RNA infected individuals without hepatitis B and C infection, alanine amino transferase was not increased except in 2 cases. Liver function tests did not show a significant difference between HGV-RNA positive patients and negative patients.
CONCLUSIONS
Hepatitis G virus infection rate was much higher in Korea than other countries, so we suggested that group life could be another transmission mode other than blood transfusion. But even in infected cases, HGV did not seem to cause hepatitis and a high proportion cleared the virus after a relatively short time.

Keyword

Hepatitis G virus; Hepatitis C virus; Hepatitis B virus; Nested RT-PCR; Blood donors; Hemodialysis; Liver disease

MeSH Terms

5' Untranslated Regions
Alanine
Blood Donors*
Blood Transfusion
GB virus C*
Hepacivirus
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B virus
Hepatitis C*
Hepatitis*
Humans
Korea
Liver Diseases
Liver Function Tests
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Renal Dialysis*
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
RNA
Transferases
5' Untranslated Regions
Alanine
RNA
Transferases