Hepatitis G virus infection in hemodialysis patients.
The increased risk of hemodialysis patients for infections sustained by hepatitis viruses is likely to extend to a newly discovered parenterally transmitted virus, HGBV-C/HGV, able to cause acute and chronic hepatitis. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and clinical relevance of this infection in Italian hemodialysis patients. Nineteen of 100 patients (19%) on maintenance hemodialysis were viremic for HGBV-C/HGV, and all of them were infected with a HGV-like genotype. Eight of these patients were coinfected by hepatitis B or hepatitis C viruses. A clinical picture of chronic hepatitis was not appreciable in patients with isolated HGV infection and the presence of HGV did not appear to modify the clinical course of hepatitis B and hepatitis C infections.
Sampietro
M
M
Istituto di Medicina Interna e Fisiopatologia Medica, Università di Milano, Italy. sampietr@mbox.vol.it
Badalamenti
S
S
Graziani
G
G
Como
G
G
Buccianti
G
G
Corbetta
N
N
Ticozzi
A
A
Archenti
A
A
Lunghi
G
G
Penso
D
D
Pizzuti
A
A
Fiorelli
G
G
Ponticelli
C
C
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D018067:Flaviviridae; D016174:Hepacivirus; D006515:Hepatitis B virus; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015995:Prevalence; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
D004279:DNA, Viral