Hepatitis C virus and GBV-C/hepatitis G virus in argentine patients with porphyria cutanea tarda

To investigate hepatitis C virus (HCV) and GBV-C/hepatitis G virus (HGV) ge notype prevalence among HCV-infected porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) patients , 19 HCV-infected patients with associated PCT were studied. A control grou p of 53 age-matched HCV-infected patients without associated PCT was select ed. Eighteen of the 19 serologically positive HCV-PCT patients showed HCV R NA in serum. Genotype lb was the most prevalent among both HCV-PCT patients (72.2%; 13/18) and age-matched HCV controls (50.9%; 27/53). Such different genotypic prevalence failed to reach statistical significance (chi (2) wit h Yates' correction, p = 0.19). The single HCV-PCT patient without detectab le HCV RNA was also infected with genogroup 3 GBV-C/HGV. This GBV-C/HGV RNA prevalence (5.3%) among HCV-PCT patients is not statistically different fr om that observed among Argentine blood donors (5.5%; 11/200). To our knowle dge, these results show for the first time the molecular epidemiology of bo th HCV and GBV-C/HGV associated to PCT in America. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Ka rger AG, Basel.