Infection with hepatitis G virus and its strain variant, the GB agent (GBV‐C), among blood donors in Japan

Yoshikawa, Akira; Fukuda, Satoko; Itoh, Keiichi; Kosaki, N; Suzuki, Tsuneko; Hirakawa, K.; Nakao, Haruhisa; Inoue, Takashi; Fukuda, Mitsutoshi; Okamoto, Hiroaki

doi:10.1046/j.1537-2995.1997.37697335163.x

Cited by 38 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This proportion correlated well with values previously reported for other geographic regions [1,8,10,[19][20][21]. Although GBV-C was mostly detected in the sera of blood donors with normal or modestly elevated ALT levels, it is not known if these donors are healthy carriers or patients at a quiescent stage of their disease.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Prevalence and Sequence Variability of GBV-C Genomes among Blood Donors in Northern Germany

Maiworm¹,

Harpain²,

Fuchs³

et al. 2001

Transfus Med Hemother

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Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of variable strains of GBV-C among blood donors in Lower Saxony (Northern Germany) and to study the genetic variability. Material and Methods: Sera of 1,011 volunteer blood donors were tested for GBV-C genomes by RT-PCR using primer pairs which amplify portions of the NS5a and 5''-NCR regions. Results: A frequency of 1.98% GBV-C-positive blood donors was observed. While the Lower Saxony strains were relatively conserved in the 5''-NCR region, the NS5a region showed a higher degree of diversity. Conclusions: Phylogenetic sequence analysis revealed that Lower Saxonian, Spanish and North American GBV-C strains were relatively closely related and showed a great diversity to Asian GBV-C isolates.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Prevalence and Sequence Variability of GBV-C Genomes among Blood Donors in Northern Germany

Maiworm¹,

Harpain²,

Fuchs³

et al. 2001

Transfus Med Hemother

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“…The level of viraemia is also comparable to previous reports for blood donor populations in Scotland and elsewhere [Roth et al, 1997;Yoshikawa et al, 1997;Bjorkman et al, 1998;Blair et al, 1998;Love et al, 1999;Nordbo et al, 2000].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Prevalence of GBV‐C infection among dental personnel

Roy

Bagg²,

Kennedy³

et al. 2003

Journal of Medical Virology

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Healthcare workers who carry out exposure-prone procedures are theoretically at increased risk of acquiring blood-borne virus infections. GB virus C (GBV-C) is a recently described blood-borne virus that is related distantly to hepatitis C virus. The occupational risk of GBV-C infection to healthcare workers is unknown. This study collected detailed occupational and personal risk data in parallel with a blood specimen, to establish the prevalence and determinants of GBV-C infection among dental healthcare workers. The presence of GBV-C antibodies was detected using commercially available ELISA; GBV-C RNA was detected by nested PCR using primers from the conserved 5' noncoding region. The overall prevalence of GBV-C antibodies among the study population was 11.1% (98/880, 95% confidence interval [CI], 9.1-13.4%) and 4.6% were positive for GBV-C RNA (46/879, 95% CI, 2.5-5.1%), resulting in a cumulative prevalence of 15.7%. These figures are similar to those described in other populations. There was no significant difference in lifetime exposure to GBV-C between dentists (17.7%) and dental nurses/hygienists (14.3%). Significantly more dental nurses/hygienists aged 16-30 years had been exposed to GBV-C compared to dentists of the same age (chi(2) = 13.75; P < 0.001). Conversely, significantly more dentists 46 years or older had evidence of exposure to GBV-C compared to dental nurses/hygienists (chi(2) = 6.79; P = 0.009). The high prevalence of GBV-C infection did not seem to be related to past parenteral exposure, and the data suggest that sexual transmission, rather than occupational transmission, was a more important route for GBV-C infection among this population.

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“…4 In Japan the prevalence is estimated at 1.1% in voluntary donors without any markers of HCV or HBV infection. 5 There are many factors and pathologic conditions known to cause liver dysfunction after BMT, including drug-related toxicity, hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD), GVHD and viral hepatitis, due to infection with cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster, adenovirus, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV). This retrospective study was performed to investigate the influence of HGV infection on the post-transplant clinical course and liver function, assessed on serum levels of glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT; alanine amino transferase, ALT), in BMT patients.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term liver function of recipients with hepatitis G virus infection after bone marrow transplantation

Maruta

Tanabe

Hashimoto

et al. 1999

Bone Marrow Transplant

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Summary:To clarify the role of hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection in liver dysfunction following allogeneic BMT, we examined cryopreserved serum samples from 33 patients who had a history of blood transfusions before BMT and whose serum samples had been stored periodically, before BMT, on day 100, and thereafter for the presence of HGV-RNA and hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Nineteen patients (58%) out of 33 were positive for HGV-RNA before BMT and 10 for HCV-RNA. All patients positive for HCV-RNA were also positive for HGV-RNA. Patients were divided into three groups according to their viral status before BMT; namely, the G؉C؉ group (n = 10), the G؉C؊ group (n = 9) and the G؊C؊ group (n = 14). Two patients in the G؊C؊ group became positive for HGV-RNA after BMT. One patient in the G؉C؊ group suffered an acute exacerbation of hepatitis, with GPT levels reaching over 1000 IU/l, 2 and 3 years after BMT, showing quite a different clinical course from those in the G؉C؊ group. Excluding these three patients, GPT levels of the patients in the G؉C؉ group were significantly higher after day 100 and remained higher than those of patients in the G؉C؊ and G؊C؊ groups for at least 4 years. There were no significant differences in post-transplant GPT levels between the G؉C؊ group and the G؊C؊ group at any time point. Of the seven patients followed-up for 5 to 10 years, three patients became HGV-RNA-negative, while four remained positive. In the absence of HCV co-infection, the behavior of GPT values post transplant in patients with HGV infection did not differ from those without HGV infection. With respect to the patient who was G؉C؊ and showed high values of GPT 2 and 3 years post transplant, we suspect that his liver dysfunction might have been caused by some unknown virus or etiology. Keywords: GBV-C; HGV; BMT; liver function Correspondence: A Maruta, Department of Hematology/Chemotherapy, Kanagawa Cancer Center, 1-1-2 Nakao, Asahi-ku, Yokohama 241-0815, Japan Received 6 November 1998; accepted 15 March 1999Two hepatitis-associated viruses, GB virus C (GBV-C) and hepatitis G virus (HGV), were identified in 1995 and in 1996. 1,2 These two viruses were found to show a 95% nucleotide homology, which was thought to indicate that they were isolates of the same virus, members of the Flaviviridae family.

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Infection with hepatitis G virus and its strain variant, the GB agent (GBV‐C), among blood donors in Japan

Cited by 38 publications

References 24 publications

Prevalence and Sequence Variability of GBV-C Genomes among Blood Donors in Northern Germany

Prevalence and Sequence Variability of GBV-C Genomes among Blood Donors in Northern Germany

Prevalence of GBV‐C infection among dental personnel

Long-term liver function of recipients with hepatitis G virus infection after bone marrow transplantation

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