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Hepatitis G virus: prevalence and sequence analysis in blood donors of São Paulo, Brazil
L Bassit1, B Kleter, G Ribeiro-dos-Santos
1Fundação Pró-Sangue Hemocentro de São Paulo, Brazil.
Background And Objectives:
Hepatitis G virus (HGV) is a recently discovered viral agent transmitted by blood, which was firstly identified in patients with acute or chronic liver disease. HGV prevalence in US blood donors was recently found to average 1-2%. We report a much higher HGV frequency among blood donors of São Paulo, Brazil.
Materials And Methods:
200 serum samples were submitted to RT-PCR using primers directed to the 5' untranslated region and nonstructural 5A (NS5A) region. PCR products were analyzed by gel electrophoresis and Southern blot hybridization.
Results:
Of the 200 specimens, 18 (9%; 95% CI 5.4-13.8%) were positive by both sets of primers. Sequence analysis of the NS5A PCR products revealed a homology of 96.3%. Of the 18 HGV-positive samples, only one was positive for anti-HBc and all were anti-HCV- and HCV-RNA-negative.
Conclusion:
Such a high prevalence of HGV in a nonsymptomatic population suggests that this is a benign agent.
