Abstract
Background and objectives: Hepatitis G virus (HGV) is a recently discovered viral agent transmitted by blood, which was firstly identified in patients with acute or chronic liver disease. HGV prevalence in US blood donors was recently found to average 1–2%. We report a much higher HGV frequency among blood donors of São Paulo, Brazil. Materials and methods: 200 serum samples were submitted to RT-PCR using primers directed to the 5′ untranslated region and nonstructural 5A (NS5A) region. PCR products were analyzed by gel electrophoresis and Southern blot hybridization. Results: Of the 200 specimens, 18 (9%; 95% CI 5.4–13.8%) were positive by both sets of primers. Sequence analysis of the NS5A PCR products revealed a homology of 96.3%. Of the 18 HGV-positive symples, only one was positive for anti-HBc and all were anti-HCV- and HCV-RNA-negative. Conclusion: Such a high prevalence of HGV in a nonsymptomatic population suggests that this is a benign agent.
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