Prevalence and genotypes of GBV-C and its associations with HIV infection among persons who inject drugs in Eastern Europe.
We aimed to determine the rate of GBV-C viremia, seropositivity, and genotypes among people who inject drugs (PWID) and healthy volunteers in Estonia and to evaluate associations between GBV-C and sociodemographic factors, intravenous drug use, co-infections. The study included 345 Caucasian PWID and 118 healthy volunteers. The presence of GBV-C RNA (viremia) was determined by reverse transcriptase-nested PCR in 5' long terminal repeat. PCR products were sequenced and genotyped by phylogenetic analysis. GBV-C seropositivity was determined by ELISA. One third of PWID (114/345) and 6% (7/118) of healthy volunteers (OR = 7.8, 95% CI = 3.5-20.5, P < 0.001) were GBV-C viremic. In PWID group, 79% of sequences belonged to subtype 2a, 19% to subtype 2b, and two remained unclassified. In healthy volunteers, six out of seven sequences belonged to subtype 2a and one to subtype 2b. We found HIV+ PWID to have two times increased odds of being GBV-C viremic compared to HIV- PWID (62% vs. 38%; OR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.34-3.36, P = 0.001). In addition, odds of being GBV-C viremic decreased with increasing age (OR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.90-0.98, P = 0.001). HIV positivity remained associated with GBV-C viremia in multivariate analysis after adjustment for age (OR = 2.23, 95% CI = 1.39-3.58, P = 0.001). GBV-C seropositivity was similar among PWID and healthy volunteers (2.3% vs. 1.7%, respectively; OR = 1.4, 95% CI =0.3-13.5, P = 1). In an Eastern European country we demonstrated that GBV-C viremia is common among PWID, but uncommon among healthy volunteers, and GBV-C seropositivity is infrequent among both groups. Similarly to other European countries and USA, GBV-C 2a is the most common genotype in Estonia. J. Med. Virol. 89:632-638, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Ene-Ly
EL
Jõgeda
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Kristi
K
Huik
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Merit
M
Pauskar
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Eveli
E
Kallas
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Tõnis
T
Karki
Beth Israel Medical Centre, New York, New York.
Don
D
Des Jarlais
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Anneli
A
Uusküla
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Irja
I
Lutsar
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Radko
R
Avi
D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005061:Europe, Eastern / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D018178:Flaviviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D029407:GB virus C / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications*; D014766:Viremia / Q000175:diagnosis
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral
HGV; IDU; seropositivity; viremia