Prevalence studies of GB Virus-C infection using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction

✍ Scribed by Dawson, George J.; Schlauder, George G.; Pilot-Matias, Tami J.; Thiele, Dwain; Leary, Thomas P.; Murphy, Paul; Rosenblatt, Jon E.; Simons, John N.; Martinson, Francis E. A.; Gutierrez, Robin A.; Lentino, Joseph R.; Pachucki, Constance; Muerhoff, A. Scott; Widell, Anders; Tegtmeier, Gary; Desai, Suresh; Mushahwar, Isa K.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 810 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-9071(199609)50:1<97::aid-jmv16>3.0.co;2-v

✦ Synopsis

Among the three recently described GB viruses (GBV-A, GBV-B, and GBV-C), only GBV-C has been linked to cryptogenic hepatitis in man. Because of the limited utility of currently available research tests to determine antibody response t o GBV-C proteins, the prevalence of GBV-C RNA in human sera was studied using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The prevalence of GBV-C is higher among volunteer blood donors with elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels (3.9%) than among volunteer blood donors with normal ALT levels (0.8%). Higher rates were also noted among commercial blood donors (12.9%) and intravenous drug users (16.0%). GBV-C was frequently detected i n residents of West Africa, where the prevalence was >lo% in most age groups. Approximately 20% of patients diagnosed with either acute or chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) were found t o be positive for GBV-C RNA. In addition, GBV-C RNA sequences were detected in individuals diagnosed with non-A-E hepatitis, with clinical courses ranging from mild disease t o fulminant hepatitis. Fourteen of sixteen subjects with or without clinically apparent hepatitis were positive for GBV-C RNA more than 1 year after the initial positive result.