Current Status of Hepatitis G Virus (GBV-C) in Transfusion: Is It Relevant?

Abstract

A new flavivirus, provisionally designated hepatitis G virus or GBV-C has recently been described. The virus is parenterally transmitted by exposure to blood through transfusion, intravenous drug use and haemodialysis. Heat- or chemically- treated blood products are associated with reduced risk of infection. The virus may also be transmitted from mother to infant and by the sexual route. Although hepatitis G virus has been detected in patients with acute and chronic hepatitis, a causative role of the virus in such cases has not been established. The majority of long term carriers of the virus appear to have no liver, biochemical or histological abnormalities.

Prevalence of GBV‐C/Hepatitis G Virus Viremia and Anti‐E2 in Canadian Blood Donors

“…The higher prevalences for viremia, anti-E2 antibodies and exposure in anti-HCV-positive persons in Canada were similar to those reported elsewhere. For example, in a review by Karayiannis and Thomas [3], RNA prevalences of 11-23% in anti-HCV-positive persons were noted, and 56% of HCV-infected donors in Sweden [19] had been exposed to GBV-C/HGV. The finding in this study that those with anti-HBc were not significantly more likely to have GBV-C/HGV viremia was perhaps due to the relatively small number of samples tested (71).…”

“…2 GBV-C/HGV RNA positive or anti-E2 reactive. 3 One STTD donor and one autologous donor were both RNA positive and anti-E2 reactive. Exposure: GBV-C/HGV RNA positive or anti-E2 reactive (1 STTD donor was both RNA positive and anti-E2 reactive).…”

“…Hepatitis G virus (HGV) and a variant called GB agent (GBV-C) are two recently identified strains of the same flavivirus [1,2], which we will refer to as GBV-C/HGV. This virus is transmitted through transfusion of blood and blood components [1,3,4] and is presumed to be transmitted by other parenteral routes, such as injection drug use [5]. Of concern is the fact that multiple studies have found viremia to be relatively common in blood donors who give no history of parenteral exposures [6][7][8][9].…”

“…The role of GBV-C/HGV in causing disease, if any, is uncertain. Viremia has been found in some persons with acute and chronic liver disease [1,4,12,13] and in other conditions such as aplastic anemia [14], but most of these associations probably do not reflect a causal role for GBV-C/HGV [3,15]. Nevertheless, the fact that transfusion recipients are at risk for GBV-C/HGV infection has led to debate regarding the need to test blood donors for GBV-C/HGV, should a feasible screening test to distinguish GBV-C/HGV carriers from other donors become available in the future.…”

Transfusion‐transmitted diseases: risks, prevention and perspectives

“…HCV and GBV-C/HGV share 25% genetic homology and coinfection of HCV and GBV-C/HGV is common. Prevalence of GBV-C/HGV in blood donors ranges from 0.9 to 4.7% (66) and several different studies have shown that this agent can be transmitted by blood transfusions (67)(68)(69)(70). As to be expected, in multiple transfusion recipients prevalence is higher, ranging from 7 to 90%, but it seems that heat inactivation, as applied to plasma products to inactivate HCV, also prevents GBV-C/HGV transmission (66,71).…”