Prevalence of GB virus C/Hepatitis G virus infection among various populations in Surabaya, Indonesia, and identification of novel groups of sequence variants.
A molecular epidemiological study was performed to investigate the prevalence of GB virus C/hepatitis G virus (GBV-C/HGV) infection among various populations in Surabaya, Indonesia. The prevalence of GBV-C/HGV RNA, determined by reverse transcription-PCR for a portion of the NS3 region of the viral genome, was 2.7% (4 of 150) among randomly collected blood donor sera, which were all negative for both hepatitis B virus surface antigen and antibodies against hepatitis C virus (HCV). On the other hand, the prevalence among anti-HCV-positive blood donors was 17.8% (13 of 73), with the ratio being significantly higher than that observed with the anti-HCV-negative blood donors (P < 0.001). A high prevalence of GBV-C/HGV infection was also observed among patients with chronic liver disease, such as chronic hepatitis (5.7%), liver cirrhosis (11. 5%), and hepatocellular carcinoma (7.0%), and patients on maintenance hemodialysis (29.0%). No correlation was observed between GBV-C/HGV viremia and serum alanine aminotransferase levels in the populations tested, suggesting the possibility that GBV-C/HGV does not cause apparent liver injury. Phylogenetic analysis of sequences of a portion of the 5' untranslated region and the E1 region of the viral genome identified, in addition to a previously reported then novel group of GBV-C/HGV variants (group 4), another novel group of variants (group 5). This result suggests that GBV-C/HGV can be classified into at least five genetic groups. GBV-C/HGV isolates of group 4 and group 5 were each shown to comprise approximately 40% of the total Indonesian isolates.
Handajani
R
R
Departments of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia.
Soetjipto
Lusida
M I
MI
Suryohudoyo
P
P
Adi
P
P
Setiawan
P B
PB
Nidom
C A
CA
Soemarto
R
R
Katayama
Y
Y
Fujii
M
M
Hotta
H
H
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions / Q000235:genetics; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014766:Viremia / Q000821:virology
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D012367:RNA, Viral; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D000410:Alanine Transaminase