[Etiological study on patients with seronegative viral hepatitis].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the etiology of hepatitis patients who were seronegative for viral hepatitis A through E.


METHODS
By using PCR, HBV DNA, HCV RNA, HEV RNA and HGV RNA were detected in sera of 104 patients with seronegative viral hepatitis. The partial nucleotide sequences of 2 HCV and 17 HEV isolates were analysed by direct sequencing.


RESULTS
Among the 104 patients with seronegative viral hepatitis, the positive rates of HBV DNA, HCV RNA, HEV RNA and HGV RNA were 29.8%, 3.8%, 22.1% and 7.7%, respectively, with only 38 cases (36.6%) negative for the genome of all known hepatitis viruses.


CONCLUSIONS
In addition to serological tests, the polymerase chain reaction of all known hepatitis viruses should be used to make the diagnosis of non-A - E hepatitis.
Zhuang
H
H
Department of Microbiology, Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100083, China.
Li
K
K
Zhu
W
W
Tang
R
R
Li
S
S
Zhai
Q
Q
Jiang
J
J
Liu
J
J
Yao
Z
Z
D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D029407:GB virus C / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000209:etiology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood
D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral