The Prevalence of GB virus C infection in patients with chronic hepatitis and in patients with chronic hepatitis and in hemodialysis patients

GB virus C (GBV-C) is a recently identified flavivirus associated with acute and chronic hepatitis. GBV-C is known to be transmitted parenterally and to have high prevalence rates in chronic hepatitis patients and also in patients on hemodialysis. In order to investigate the prevalence of GB virus C infection among patients with chronic hepatitis and in chronic hemodialysis patients, the serum samples obtained from 87 patients with chronic hepatitis (65 male, 22 female, mean age 50.8±14.2) and 76 patients on hemodialysis (46 male, 30 female, mean age 46.3+14.6 years) were analysed for the presence of GBV-C RNA by nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using specific primers derived from the NSa/helicase region of the GBV-C in our area. Patients with chronic hepatitis were diagnosed histopathological examinations. GBV-C RNA was detected in 4 of 87 (4.6%) patients with chronic hepatitis, one of these patients was coinfected with HCV and 3 patients were only infected with GBV-C. Of the patients 73 were found to have chronic hepatitis B and/or chronic hepatitis C. GBV-C RNA was identified in 3 of 14 (21.4%) patients with chronic non B - non C hepatitis. Among hemodialysis patients, GBV-C RNA was present in 16 of 76 (21 %) cases, of which 3 were positive for anti HCV antibodies. In conclusion, GBV-C infection appears to be common with a rate of 21.4% among patients with chronic non B - non C hepatitis and also with a rate of 21% in patients on maintenance hemodialysis in our area. Key Words: Chronic hepatitis, Hemodialysis, HGV/GBV-C polymerase Chain Reaction. V