GB VIRUS-C INFECTION IN FULMINANT AND ACUTE HEPATITIS

To assess the presence of GB virus C (GBV-C) in fulminant and acute he patitis, GBV-C-RNA was screened by reverse transcription-polymerase ch ain reaction (RT-PCR) in sera from 33 patients with acute and subacute liver diseases (fulminant hepatitis 14, late onset hepatic failure 2, acute hepatitis 17). GBV-C was detected in two of 14 patients with fu lminant hepatitis, but not in any patient with acute hepatitis and lat e onset hepatic failure, Both GBV-C-positive patients were also infect ed with hepatitis B virus and both of them had a history of blood tran sfusion. None of the 15 patients with non-A, non-B, non-C (non-A-C) he patitis were positive for GBV-C. From these data, it is suspected that infection of GBV-C is not very frequent in patients with non-A-C acut e and fulminant hepatitis, and that blood transfusion is one of the im portant routes for GBV-C transfection, which correlates with the relat ively high prevalence of patients co-infected with GBV-C and other blo od-transmissible viruses such as hepatitis B and C virus.