title: [Etiological study on patients with seronegative viral hepatitis].
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Beijing Medical University, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral