Incidence of hepatitis Gvirus in patients with hematological malignancies withrepeated blood transfusion

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis G virus and GB virus C (GBV-C) are RNA viruses that were independently identified in 1995, and were subsequently found to be two isolates of the same virus.Blood transfusion is the main risk factor for HGV transmission. Patients with hematological malignancies usually require frequent blood transfusions which make them more vulnerable to HGV infection. The aims of this study was to estimate the transmission rate of HGV in patients with hematological malignancies having multiple blood transfusion Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out at the national center of hematology,Almustansiriya University and department of microbiology in Baghdad university college of medicine in Baghdad / Iraq from January till June 2012. The study involved 60 patients (39 males & 21 females) diagnosed with hematological malignancies. Results: Of the sixty patients, seventeen patients (28.3 %) had IgM HGV positive, while 43 (71.7%) of patients had HGV IgM negative which was statistically significant when compared to control group Conclusion: the incidence of HGV increase in patient with hematological malignancies receiving multiple blood transfusions