Molecular Detection of HGV RNA in Chronic Hepatitis Patients
from Afzalipoor General Hospital in Kerman, Iran
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Abstract
Background and Aims: Viral hepatitis is a global health problem with a high mortality rate.
Recently, a new Flavi-like virus, provisionally named hepatitis G virus (HGV), has been
described. HGV does not induce an immune response that is consistently detectable by using
recombinant proteins from prokaryotic expression, therefore studies have been conducted by
using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based system. HGV is a blood born virus that is
parenterally transmitted, however incidence of severe hepatitis with HGV is rare, and most
infections are subclinical or mild.
Methods: A total of 180 blood specimens from chronic hepatitis patients (80 were HBV and
HCV positive and 100 were Non B-Non C hepatitis patients) were collected, plasma was
separated and stored at -80° C. The specimens were examined by the method of RT-PCR.
Results: There were 36 male and 14 female patients, majorities (95%) were living in the city
of Kerman, and average age was 35 years old. The rate of infection with hepatitis viruses
were as follows: chronic liver disease, including 21 (52.5%) with chronic hepatitis B
infection, 17 with chronic hepatitis C infection (42.5%) co-infected with HGV, respectively
(p = 0.03). Of the 180 patients, 40 were HGV RNA positive (17.7%).
Conclusion: HGV co-infection is highly prevalent among Kerman blood donors who are
infected with HBV or HCV. The results also reveal that population negative for HCV and
HBV are a low risk group for HGV infection