Hepatitis G virus genotypes in a tertiary care centre in southern India

The association of GBV-C/HGV in patients at high risk of parenteral infection and those with chronic liver disease in southern India is unknown.

To study the occurrence of GBV-C/HGV in three patient groups attending a tertiary care centre in Vellore and identify the prevailing genotype(s).

Two hundred and twenty-seven individuals were studied using an RT-PCR assay with primers specific for the 5'NCR and the NS5a-coding regions. Ten randomly selected samples were sequenced in the 5'NCR region of the GBV-C/HGV genome.

GBV-C/HGV RNA was detected in 37/70 (52.9%) of renal transplant recipients, 18/70 (25.7%) of patients with haematological disorders and in 9/87 (10.3%) patients with chronic liver disease. Nine of the ten sequences could be assigned to genotype 2a while the remaining sequence could not be assigned.

In this centre, GBV-C/HGV is widely prevalent in patients with high parenteral risk and in those with chronic liver disease. The predominantly circulating genotype among study patients is genotype 2a.