title: Frequency and genotypic distribution of GB virus C (GBV-C) among Colombian population with Hepatitis B (HBV) or Hepatitis C (HCV) infection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  GB virus C (GBV-C) is an enveloped positive-sense ssRNA virus belonging to the Flaviviridae family. Studies on the genetic variability of the GBV-C reveals the existence of six genotypes: genotype 1 predominates in West Africa, genotype 2 in Europe and America, genotype 3 in Asia, genotype 4 in Southwest Asia, genotype 5 in South Africa and genotype 6 in Indonesia. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and genotypic distribution of GBV-C in the Colombian population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two groups were analyzed: i) 408 Colombian blood donors infected with HCV (n = 250) and HBV (n = 158) from Bogotá and ii) 99 indigenous people with HBV infection from Leticia, Amazonas. A fragment of 344 bp from the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) was amplified by nested RT PCR. Viral sequences were genotyped by phylogenetic analysis using reference sequences from each genotype obtained from GenBank (n = 160). Bayesian phylogenetic analyses were conducted using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach to obtain the MCC tree using BEAST v.1.5.3.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among blood donors, from 158 HBsAg positive samples, eight 5.06% (n = 8) were positive for GBV-C and from 250 anti-HCV positive samples, 3.2%(n = 8) were positive for GBV-C. Also, 7.7% (n = 7) GBV-C positive samples were found among indigenous people from Leticia. A phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of the following GBV-C genotypes among blood donors: 2a (41.6%), 1 (33.3%), 3 (16.6%) and 2b (8.3%). All genotype 1 sequences were found in co-infection with HBV and 4/5 sequences genotype 2a were found in co-infection with HCV. All sequences from indigenous people from Leticia were classified as genotype 3. The presence of GBV-C infection was not correlated with the sex (p = 0.43), age (p = 0.38) or origin (p = 0.17).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was found a high frequency of GBV-C genotype 1 and 2 in blood donors. The presence of genotype 3 in indigenous population was previously reported from Santa Marta region in Colombia and in native people from Venezuela and Bolivia. This fact may be correlated to the ancient movements of Asian people to South America a long time ago.
authors: Laboratory of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, São Paulo Institute of Tropical Medicine and Department of Gastroenterology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil. monica.viviana@usp.br
authors: Mónica V
authors: MV
authors: Alvarado-Mora
authors: Livia
authors: L
authors: Botelho
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Nishiya
authors: Raymundo A
authors: RA
authors: Neto
authors: Michele S
authors: MS
authors: Gomes-Gouvêa
authors: Maria F
authors: MF
authors: Gutierrez
authors: Flair J
authors: FJ
authors: Carrilho
authors: João Rr
authors: JR
authors: Pinho
mesh_terms: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001782:Blood Donors; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D018178:Flaviviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D029407:GB virus C / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D044382:Population Groups; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D012367:RNA, Viral