ABSTRACT
An RNA virus, designated hepatitis G virus (HGV), was identified from the plasma of a patient with chronic hepatitis. Extension from an immunoreactive complementary DNA clone yielded the entire genome (9392 nucleotides) encoding a polyprotein of 2873 amino acids. The virus is closely related to GB virus C (GBV-C) and distantly related to hepatitis C virus, GBV-A, and GBV-B. HGV was associated with acute and chronic hepatitis. Persistent viremia was detected for up to 9 years in patients with hepatitis. The virus is transfusion-transmissible. It has a global distribution and is present within the volunteer blood donor population in the United States.
Subject(s)
Hepatitis Viruses/genetics , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/virology , RNA Viruses/genetics , Transfusion Reaction , Acute Disease , Amino Acid Sequence , Base Sequence , Blood Donors , Blood-Borne Pathogens , Chronic Disease , Cloning, Molecular , Consensus Sequence , Disease Transmission, Infectious , Flaviviridae/genetics , Genome, Viral , Hepatitis Viruses/chemistry , Hepatitis Viruses/isolation & purification , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/epidemiology , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/transmission , Humans , Molecular Sequence Data , Polymerase Chain Reaction , RNA Viruses/chemistry , RNA Viruses/isolation & purification , RNA, Viral/blood , RNA, Viral/genetics , Sequence Alignment , United States/epidemiology , Viral Proteins/chemistry , Viral Proteins/genetics , Viremia/epidemiology , Viremia/virologyABSTRACT
Investigation of an outbreak of hepatitis in Dhaka implicated enterically transmitted non-A, non-B (ET-NANB) hepatitis as the etiologic agent. This observation was made by exclusion in 17 of 19 patients, and confirmed serologically in one randomly selected patient by a fluorescent antibody blocking assay specific for ET-NANB hepatitis. These findings reinforce earlier suspicions that ET-NANB may be an important cause of acute hepatitis in Bangladesh. The epidemiology of ET-NANB hepatitis is discussed, and public health recommendations are made.
