Seroprevalence of GB virus C and persistence of RNA and antibody.

Exposure to GB virus C (GBV-C) was determined in several U.S. populations by both reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antibodies to mammalian cell-expressed GBV-C envelope protein, E2 (GBV-C E2). Most individuals exposed to GBV-C were either RNA positive/ELISA negative or ELISA positive/RNA negative. Exposure, therefore, was measured as the sum of GBV-C RNA positive and GBV-C E2 antibody positive specimens, and was higher in commercial plasmapheresis donors (40.5%) than in volunteer blood donors (5.5%). In intravenous drug users (IVDUs), GBV-C exposure was 89.2%. Serial bleed specimens tested for GBV-C RNA indicate that some patients remain viremic for at least 3 years and fail to produce detectable antibodies to GBV-C E2. In other exposed individuals who tested negative for GBV-C RNA, antibodies to E2 appear to be similarly long-lived (greater than 3 years) with a fairly constant titer (ranging in reciprocal endpoint dilution from 336 to 21,504). Since the detection of GBV-C RNA and GBV-C E2 antibody are mutually exclusive in most exposed individuals, studies pertaining to incidence and prevalence of GBV-C infection require both antibody and nucleic acid detection.