title: Prevalence and molecular epidemiology of GB virus C/hepatitis G virus infection in Mongolia.
abstract: We studied the prevalence of GB virus C/hepatitis G virus (GBV-C/HGV) infection among 112 patients with liver disease and 121 blood donors in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction were employed to detect GBV-C/HGV RNA using the specific primers derived from the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of the GBV-C/HGV genome. Nucleotide sequences of all positive samples for GBV-C/HGV RNA were determined. The sequences were analyzed by a molecular evolutionary method. Twenty-five (10.7%) of 233 people were positive for GBV-C/HGV RNA. Eight (6.6%), 11 (9.1%), and 30 (24.8%) blood donors were positive for GBV-C/HGV RNA, HBsAg, and anti-HCV, respectively, although 17 (15.2%), 65 (58.0%), and 64 (54.5%) patients with liver disease were positive for each viral marker. The prevalences of GBV-C/HGV RNA, HBV, and HCV in the patients were significantly higher than those in blood donors (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of anti-HCV among people with and without GBV-C/HGV RNA, while the prevalence of HBsAg among people with GBV-C/HGV RNA was significantly higher than among those without GBV-C/HGV RNA (P < 0.05). The molecular evolutionary tree showed that GBV-C/HGV was a heterogeneous virus and all strains could be divided into 2 types. One is the same phylogenetic type as HGV, and the other is a new type that is different from GBV-C and HGV.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Medicine, Nagoya City University Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mizokami
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mukaide
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hikiji
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dorjsuren
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dashnyam
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oyunsuren
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral; D005260:Female; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008986:Mongolia / Q000453:epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral; D000410:Alanine Transaminase