Hepatitis G virus / GB virus C in Brazil. Preliminary report

Abstract

Hepatitis G virus/ GB virus C is a novel flavivirus recently detected in hepatitis non A-E cases. In this study, the presence of this virus in chronic non-B, non-C hepatitis patients was evaluated using GBV-C specific PCR and this virus was detected in one out of thirteen patients. This patient has presented a severe liver failure, has lived for a long time in the Western Amazon basin and no other cause for this clinical picture was reported. The impact of the discovery of this new agent is still under evaluation throughout the world. The study of the prevalence of this virus among chronic hepatitis patients and healthy individuals (as blood donors) will furnish subside to evaluate its real pathogenicity.

High Prevalence of GB Virus C in Brazil and Molecular Evidence for Intrafamilial Transmission

“…Results and discussion. We detected GBV-C RNA in 13 of 137 (9.5%) Brazilian non-A-E hepatitis patients, in general agreement with the preliminary data reported by our group (1 of 13; 7.5%) (17). This prevalence is similar to those reported elsewhere-8.3% in Europe (13), 8.7% in the United States (6), and 8% in Japan (19)-although higher levels are observed in China (16.7% [20]) and, most noticeably, in Italy (39% [7]).…”

“…Sexual transmission has been reported through the analysis of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (8), prostitutes (9), and couples (10). GBV-C has also been documented in cases of hepatitis not caused by hepatitis A virus (HAV), HBV, HCV, HDV, or HEV (non-A-E hepatitis) worldwide (13,18), including Brazil (17); in HBV-and HCVinfected patients (13); and in cases of aplastic anemia (18). Furthermore, despite its high prevalence in patients with hepatitis, the association between GBV-C and hepatitis, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, or end-stage liver disease is uncertain, especially because many infections also occur in healthy individuals (1,2).…”

“…At the preamplification areas, special procedures were adopted: use of aerosol resistance tips, constant changing of gloves, use of paper sheets for opening tubes to avoid aerosols, and working with stock solutions and preparing reaction mixes in separate areas before starting any manipulation with samples on the same day. In every reaction run, one negative control was analyzed for every three samples and a weakly positive control serum, from a patient previously determined to be viremic, was included (17).…”

Prevalence, Incidence Density, and Genotype Distribution of GB Virus C Infection in a Cohort of Recently HIV-1-Infected Subjects in Sao Paulo, Brazil

“…First reports were initially available from hemodialysis patients with prevalence of 15%, or from patients with chronic liver diseases with a prevalence of 19% and 7% respectively [50], [51], [52]. The spread of GBV-C infection is also described in the general population ranging from 2% to 18% and the predominant genotypes were 2a, 2b and 1 [47], [53], [54], [55], [56], [57], [58].…”