Hepatitis G virus infection in screened Chinese blood donors.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of the recently identified hepatitis G virus (HGV)/GBV-C in screened Chinese paid blood donors.


METHODS
Two hundred and seventy-nine plasma samples were tested for HGV RNA by RT-PCR with nested primers from the 5'-noncoding region of GBV-C. All samples were obtained from plasma or blood bags that had been screened twice by routine selection tests (ALT, HBsAg, Anti-HCV, anti-HIV, and syphilis) and were available for clinical use.


RESULTS
HGV RNA was detected in 2 (4%) of 50 paid plasma donors from the Beijing Red Cross Blood Center, 1 (2%) of 50 paid blood donors from Taiyuan, and 9 (5%) of 179 paid blood donors from Hebei, a total HGV detection rate of 4.3% (12/279).


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that HGV infection is relatively frequent even in screened donors, at least in paid screened donors, although larger-scale studies are required.
Ren
F R
FR
Beijing Red Cross Blood Center, China.
Wang
Y
Y
Li
H
H
Chen
H S
HS
Zhao
H Y
HY
D001782:Blood Donors; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood
D012367:RNA, Viral