HIGH PREVALENCE OF GB VIRUS-C INFECTION IN A GROUP OF ITALIAN PATIENTS WITH HEPATITIS OF UNKNOWN ETIOLOGY

Prevalence of the recently discovered GB virus C (GBV-C) was evaluated in a cohort of 49 Italian patients with acute or chronic hepatitis of unknown etiology (non-A-E hepatitis) and in a control group of 100 he althy blood donors. The GBV-C genomes could be detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with reverse transcription in 35% of the acute an d 39% of the chronic hepatitis patients; only 1 of the control subject s had a positive response. All PCR products hybridized with a specific probe in a colorimetric assay, and the analysis of the sequences of t he amplified cDNAs fully confirmed the specificity of the assay. Furth ermore, the alignment of the predicted translation products identified two recurrent amino acid substitutions in 6 patients, suggesting the possible existence of at least 2 different GBV-C subtypes. Thus, GBV-C may be an important agent, contributing, at least in Italy, to a sign ificant number of the cases of hepatitis of unknown etiology.