title: Interspousal transmission of GB virus-C/hepatitis G virus: a comparison with hepatitis C virus.
abstract: Although infection with GB virus-C/hepatitis G virus (GBV-C/HGV) by blood transfusion is well documented, little is known about the other routes of transmission. The prevalence of GBV-C/HGV infection in spouses of index patients and the related risk factors were studied. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and GBV-C/HGV infections were studied in spouses of 100 patients with hepatitis C, of whom 12 were found to be also positive for GBV-C/HGV RNA. For couples both with GBV-C/ HGV viremia, nucleotide sequences of the divergent envelope region were analyzed by phylogenetic tree constructions. For HCV infection, anti-HCV was found in 14 (14%) of the 100 spouses. Five spouses (42%) of the 12 patients with dual infection of GBV-C/HGV and HCV had evidence of GBV-C/HGV infection, three had viral RNA, and two had antibodies to a recombinant HGV envelope protein E2. Nucleotide sequence comparison and phylogenetic tree analysis of the genome in the GBV-C/HGV infected couple revealed the isolates to be closely related. These results suggest that spouses of patients with GBV-C/HGV infection are at a higher risk of acquiring GBV-C/HGV as compared with HCV, and they should be educated to avoid GBV-C/HGV infection from their spouses, in case GBV-C/HGV is shown to be pathogenic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Hsiang
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D017502:Adenovirus E2 Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D005260:Female; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000150:complications / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D018454:Spouses; D014766:Viremia
chemical_list: D017502:Adenovirus E2 Proteins; D012367:RNA, Viral