Molecular Detection of HGV RNA in Chronic Hepatitis Patients from Afzalipoor General Hospital in Kerman, Iran

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.