Novel hepatitis agents: the significance of clinical and experimental studies. An overview.

A new virus with genomic organization similar to that of the family Flaviviridae was identified in patients with viral hepatitis and designated hepatitis G virus (HGV) or hepatitis GB virus C (GBV-C). HGV/GBV-C can be transmitted by blood and results in persistent infection, as shown in patients with posttransfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis, in transfusion recipients, and in donors of blood received by HGV-positive patients. The parenteral route of transmission of HGV/GBV-C infection was confirmed in experimentally infected chimpanzees. Epidemiologic studies of sporadic, community-acquired viral hepatitis have not indicated an association between HGV/GBV-C and acute non A-E hepatitis. Thus, the disease association of this new virus remains unconfirmed and its role in the etiology of acute and chronic hepatitis is unclear. The experimental model of HGV/GBV-C infection may define the biology of the virus replication.