title: Hepatitis C virus and GBV-C/hepatitis G virus in Argentine patients with porphyria cutanea tarda.
abstract: To investigate hepatitis C virus (HCV) and GBV-C/hepatitis G virus (HGV) genotype prevalence among HCV-infected porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) patients, 19 HCV-infected patients with associated PCT were studied. A control group of 53 age-matched HCV-infected patients without associated PCT was selected. Eighteen of the 19 serologically positive HCV-PCT patients showed HCV RNA in serum. Genotype 1b was the most prevalent among both HCV-PCT patients (72.2%; 13/18) and age-matched HCV controls (50.9%; 27/53). Such different genotypic prevalence failed to reach statistical significance (chi(2) with Yates' correction, p = 0.19). The single HCV-PCT patient without detectable HCV RNA was also infected with genogroup 3 GBV-C/HGV. This GBV-C/HGV RNA prevalence (5.3%) among HCV-PCT patients is not statistically different from that observed among Argentine blood donors (5.5%; 11/200). To our knowledge, these results show for the first time the molecular epidemiology of both HCV and GBV-C/HGV associated to PCT in America.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Paraguay 2155, Piso 11, 1121 Buenos Aires, Argentina. joubina@fmed.uba.ar
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Oubiña
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Quarleri
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sawicki
authors.forename: V L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Mathet
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schroder
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Méndez
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Parera
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Battle
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: González Cappa
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Fainboim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D017119:Porphyria Cutanea Tarda / Q000150:complications*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral