The prevalence of hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection was investigated in 85
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected and 30 uninfected individuals'
sera obtained from Ghanaians. HGV RNA in serum was identified by st nested
reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using primers deri
ved from the 5'-noncoding region. We also tested for hepatitis C virus by n
ested RT-PCR and for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) by passive hemaggl
utination method. HGV RNA was detected in 17 of 85 (20%) HIV sere-positive
and three of 30 (10%) sere-negative Ghanaians, respectively. The prevalence
of HGV infection was much greater than hepatitis C (0.9%) and hepatitis B
virus (7.8%) infections in the present study. Ninety four percent of HGV in
fected patients were seronegative for hepatitis B and C virus infections. T
he nine different Ghanaian isolates in the 5'-untranslated region of the HG
V genome had one nucleotide deletion at the same position when compared wit
h other HGV isolates. Phylogenetic analysis showed that ail Ghanaian isolat
es belonged to type 1 (West Africa type) of the HGV genotypes, Moreover, we
determined nearly full-length nucleotide sequence of the HGV genome (denot
ed HGV-GA128) recovered from a Ghanaian infected with HIV. The HGV-GA128 wa
s composed of 9231 nucleotides and had a single open reading framer encodin
g 2843 amino acid residues. This isolate differed from previously reported
HGV/GBV-C isolates by 10-15% of the nucleotide sequence and 2-5% of the ami
no acid sequence. Our data indicate a high prevalence of HGV, especially ge
notype 1, in Ghana. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reser
ved.