Prevalence and patterns of HGV/GBV-C infection in patients with suspected HCV-related hepatitis

Hepatitis G virus (HGV) is a recently described hepatotropic parenterally t ransmitted flavivirus. The presence of HGV was tested in 61 patients with a request for confirmation of HCV active infection, Thirty-two patients were in haemodialysis and 29 were referred from wards other than nephrology. Ac tive HCV and HGV infections were determined by detection of their viral RNA in serum. Evaluation of previous HGV infection was carried out by detectio n of antibodies to E2 antigen. HGV prevalence was 62.29 % (38/61), HGV-acti ve infection was found in 11.47% (7/61) of the population studied: in 18.7% (6/32) of the haemodialysed patients and in 3.4% (1/29) of patients belong ing to the other group. HGV prevalence increased two-fold when previous inf ection was also considered. HGV clearance was prospectively detected in 5 o ut of the 7 patients with active infection, and at an earlier stage for tho se patients coinfected with HCV. Anti-E2 seropositivity was associated with HGV clearance in only two patients.