PREVALENCE AND GENOTYPE OF HEPATITIS-G VIRUS IN CHINESE PROFESSIONAL BLOOD-DONORS AND HEPATITIS PATIENTS

Prevalence of hepatitis G virus (HGV) was determined in a cohort of Ch inese blood donors and hepatitis patients by the detection of viral RN A via reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. While HGV RNA w as detected in only 1 of 150 healthy volunteers, the detection rate am ong professional blood donors was surprisingly high (21/265, 7.9%), an d plasmapheresis was identified as a significant risk factor in this p opulation. It was also shown that an elevated serum alanine aminotrans ferase level is not a reliable marker for HGV infection. Prevalences o f HGV in patients with hepatitis C, with non-A-E hepatitis, and with h epatocellular carcinoma were relatively low (8.2%, 16.7%, and 6.1%, re spectively), Striking sequence homology (>90%) shared by 5 HGV cDNA cl ones implicated that they belonged to the same genotype. Phylogenetic analysis of a 446-bp NS3 cDNA confirmed that this genotype was closely related to the prototype viruses.