Nakatsuji Y, Shih J W, Tanaka E, Kiyosawa K, Wages J, Kim J P, Alter H J
Department of Transfusion Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20852, USA.
J Viral Hepat. 1996 Nov;3(6):307-16. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2893.1996.tb00103.x.
A reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction procedure (RT-PCR) for the detection of hepatitis G virus (HGV) RNA was used to examine the prevalence of HGV infection and HGV-related disease in Japan. Among 48 patients with acute non-A, B, C, D, E (non-A-E) hepatitis (five transfusion-associated cases and 43 sporadic cases), only one patient (2%), a transfusion recipient, was HGV RNA positive. Similarly, among 50 patients with established chronic non-A-E hepatitis, only two (4%) were positive for HGV RNA. These frequencies were not significantly different from those in 129 voluntary blood donors (0.8%). By contrast, HGV infection was relatively common among patients who were also infected with other hepatitis viruses. HGV co-infection or superinfection was found in seven of 53 (13%) patients with acute hepatitis C, in 15 of 126 (12%) patients with chronic hepatitis C, in three of 21 (14%) patients with acute hepatitis B and in four of 81 (5%) patients with chronic hepatitis B. Among the 29 dually infected patients, 15 (52%) had a history of blood transfusion. HGV was also detected in seven (10%) of 69 haemodialysis patients, of whom only one had a dual infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and an elevated aminotransferase level.
HGV RNA was found in only a low percentage of patients with either acute or chronic non-A-E hepatitis: HGV appears to co-infect or superinfect in 10-15% of HCV infections and in 5-15% of HBV infections; the prevalence of HGV infection (0.8%) among voluntary blood donors in Japan is similar to that for HCV infection; a history of blood transfusion was obtained in 22 (55%) of the total 40 HGV-positive subjects; and isolated HGV infection appears to have a low disease burden.
采用逆转录聚合酶链反应程序（RT-PCR）检测庚型肝炎病毒（HGV）RNA，以研究日本HGV感染及HGV相关疾病的流行情况。在48例急性非甲、乙、丙、丁、戊型肝炎患者（5例输血相关病例和43例散发病例）中，仅1例（2%）输血受者HGV RNA呈阳性。同样，在50例确诊的慢性非甲-戊型肝炎患者中，仅2例（4%）HGV RNA呈阳性。这些频率与129名自愿献血者（0.8%）中的频率无显著差异。相比之下，HGV感染在同时感染其他肝炎病毒的患者中相对常见。在53例急性丙型肝炎患者中有7例（13%）、126例慢性丙型肝炎患者中有15例（12%）、21例急性乙型肝炎患者中有3例（14%）、81例慢性乙型肝炎患者中有4例（5%）发现HGV合并感染或重叠感染。在29例双重感染患者中，15例（52%）有输血史。在69例血液透析患者中也检测到7例（10%）HGV，其中只有1例同时感染丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）且转氨酶水平升高。
急性或慢性非甲-戊型肝炎患者中HGV RNA阳性率较低；HGV似乎在10%-15%的HCV感染以及5%-15%的HBV感染中合并感染或重叠感染；日本自愿献血者中HGV感染率（0.8%）与HCV感染率相似；40例HGV阳性受试者中有22例（55%）有输血史；孤立的HGV感染似乎疾病负担较低。
