Prevalence of Hepatitis G Virus Infection in Slovenian Hemodialysis Patients as Determined by the Detection of Viral Genome and E2 Antibodies

Abstract

The prevalence of hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection was assessed by the detection of viral genome and HGV E2 antibodies in hemodialysis patients from a dialysis unit with the highest prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in Slovenia. HGV RNA was detected in 7 (11.9%) and HGV E2 antibodies in 20 (33.9%) of 59 hemodialysis patients. One patient had detectable HGV RNA as well as HGV E2 antibodies in her serum sample at the time of the study. The total prevalence of HGV infection was 44.1%. Our results clearly indicate that the mere detection of HGV RNA in serum samples would seriously underestimate the real prevalence of HGV infection in hemodialysis patients. Therefore, when assessing the prevalence of HGV infection in hemodialysis patients, detection of both antibody and nucleic acid is requisite.

Hepatitis G Virus Infection in Haemodialysis and in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

“…The prevalence of HGV infection in our haemodialysis population (15.4%) is lower than reported by other authors in our geographic area [19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29]. Methodological factors in HGV RNA detection do not explain these discrepancies, since we also amplified both 5′-UTR and NS3 regions.…”

“…Prevalence studies indicate that the percentage of HGV ranges from 1.6% among volunteer blood donors to more than 20% among polytransfused patients or drug abusers [12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]. The epidemiological data available so far show a significant discrepancy of HGV infection among haemodialysis patients [18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29]. In fact, the prevalence ranges from 3.1% reported by Japanese authors [18]to 57.5% reported by French authors [19].…”

GB Virus C/Hepatitis G Virus Exposure in Italian Pediatric and Young Adult Thalassemic Patients

“…The results of other studies of blood donors and risk groups showed that the exposure rate of GBV-C/HGV infection as determined by testing GBV-C/HGV anti-E2 was two to fivefold higher than that of GBV-C/HGV RNA [12,13]. In our patients, the high number of blood units transfused could be the reason for the similar prevalence of GBV-C/HGV RNA and anti-E2 Furthermore, as suggested by other authors [14], anti-E2 reactivity may decrease with time and our older patients with past exposure to GBV-C/HGV may have lost anti-E2.…”