title: Prevalence and genotype of hepatitis G virus in Chinese professional blood donors and hepatitis patients.
abstract: Prevalence of hepatitis G virus (HGV) was determined in a cohort of Chinese blood donors and hepatitis patients by the detection of viral RNA via reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. While HGV RNA was detected in only 1 of 150 healthy volunteers, the detection rate among professional blood donors was surprisingly high (21/265, 7.9%), and plasmapheresis was identified as a significant risk factor in this population. It was also shown that an elevated serum alanine aminotransferase level is not a reliable marker for HGV infection. Prevalences of HGV in patients with hepatitis C, with non-A-E hepatitis, and with hepatocellular carcinoma were relatively low (8.2%, 16.7%, and 6.1%, respectively). Striking sequence homology (>90%) shared by 5 HGV cDNA clones implicated that they belonged to the same genotype. Phylogenetic analysis of a 446-bp NS3 cDNA confirmed that this genotype was closely related to the prototype viruses.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, Beijing.
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: D Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D001782:Blood Donors; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000821:virology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017931:DNA Primers; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005838:Genotype; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D012016:Reference Values; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D012367:RNA, Viral