Hepatitis G virus:: Prevalence and sequence analysis in blood donors of Sao Paulo, Brazil

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 Sao 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 NSSA 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.