ABSTRACT
Viral hepatitis is a common infection in the developing countries. Aside from Hepatitis A-E viruses, a novel hepatitis virus termed GBV-C, or HGV, was recently described. We have studied the prevalence of this virus among Saudi Arabian healthy blood donors (n = 200) and patients with cryptogenic (non-A-E) hepatitis (n=71). After serum extraction and RNA reverse transcription, amplification was carried out by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using primers for the 5' noncoding region (NCR), NS5A region and NS3 helicase region. Among the patients with cryptogenic hepatitis, PCR-positivity was 18/71 (25.4%) for the 5' NCR, 14/71 (19.7%) for the NS5A region, and 15/71 (21.1%) for the NS3 helicase region. Among the healthy blood donors, PCR-positivity was 4/200 (2%) for the 5' NCR, 0/200 (0%) for the NS5A region, and 1/200 (0.5%) for the NS3 helicase region. Since the 5' NCR is considered the most conserved segment of the virus genome, it is not unusual to find higher positivity rate when that region is used for amplification. It is noted that the positivity rate is not far different among the three amplified regions, indicating that the heterogeneity of GBV-C/HGV is not as extensive as in hepatitis C virus. Phylogenetic analysis of 5'NCR DNA sequences showed that all isolates in this study belong to genotype 2. We conclude that the prevalence of GBV-C/HGV is similar to what is reported worldwide among the general Saudi population but relatively higher among Saudi patients with cryptogenic hepatitis.
Subject(s)
Blood Donors , Flaviviridae/genetics , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/epidemiology , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/virology , 5' Untranslated Regions/genetics , Amino Acid Sequence , Base Sequence , Cloning, Molecular , DNA Primers , DNA Probes , Flaviviridae/chemistry , Flaviviridae/classification , Humans , Molecular Sequence Data , Prevalence , RNA Helicases/chemistry , RNA Helicases/genetics , RNA, Viral/isolation & purification , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction , Saudi Arabia/epidemiology , Sequence Analysis, DNA , Serine Endopeptidases , Viral Nonstructural Proteins/chemistry , Viral Nonstructural Proteins/geneticsABSTRACT
Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version.
ABSTRACT
Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version.
Subject(s)
Pancreatic Diseases/diagnosis , Pancreatic Neoplasms/diagnosis , Tuberculosis/diagnosis , Adult , Biopsy, Needle , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Pancreatic Diseases/diagnostic imaging , Pancreatic Diseases/pathology , Pancreatic Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Pancreatic Neoplasms/pathology , Radiography , Tuberculosis/diagnostic imaging , Tuberculosis/pathologyABSTRACT
We report two cases of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) after orthotopic liver transplantation for cirrhosis of the liver related to hepatitis C virus. Both cases were Saudi-born Arabs who were negative for human immunodeficiency virus; one patient was receiving FK506 plus prednisolone, and the other patient was receiving FK506. One patient died of fulminant multicentric KS. The other patient, with lesions confined to the lower limbs, is still alive. These are the first case reports of KS in liver transplant recipients in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and, to our knowledge, these are the first case reports of KS in liver transplant recipients on FK506. All previous reports were related to either cyclosporine or conventional immunosuppressive therapy, i.e., azathioprine plus prednisolone.
Subject(s)
Immunosuppressive Agents/therapeutic use , Liver Transplantation/immunology , Sarcoma, Kaposi/complications , Tacrolimus/therapeutic use , Aged , Humans , Liver Transplantation/statistics & numerical data , Male , Prevalence , Sarcoma, Kaposi/epidemiology , Saudi Arabia/epidemiologyABSTRACT
A 43-year old man presented with a clinical picture compatible with cholestatic jaundice. ERCP was suggestive of cholangiocarcinoma. Liver biopsy showed non-caseating granuloma. The diagnosis was a rare presentation of hepatic sarcoidosis causing obstruction to the biliary tract. Obstruction was alleviated with corticosteroids.
Subject(s)
Cholestasis, Extrahepatic/etiology , Hepatic Duct, Common/pathology , Liver Diseases/complications , Sarcoidosis/complications , Adult , Anti-Inflammatory Agents/therapeutic use , Bile Duct Neoplasms/diagnosis , Biopsy , Cholangiocarcinoma/diagnosis , Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde , Cholestasis/etiology , Cholestasis, Extrahepatic/drug therapy , Diagnosis, Differential , Glucocorticoids/therapeutic use , Humans , Liver Diseases/drug therapy , Male , Prednisolone/therapeutic use , Sarcoidosis/drug therapyABSTRACT
We investigated the genotype distribution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among Saudi patients with chronic hepatitis C. Serum specimens from 119 native Saudi Arabian patients with chronic hepatitis C, as documented by serology and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for HCV RNA, were used. Genotyping was performed by reverse transcription-PCR, using specific primers at the core region of HCV genome, and DNA sequencing of the resultant amplicons. It was found that the majority of samples (47.9%) belong to genotype 4, followed by subtype 1b (16.8%), and subtype 1a (10.1%). Twenty samples (16.8%) were not able to be typed by our method. We confirmed the results by cloning at least one PCR amplicon from each genotype, and determining the nucleotide sequence of the clones. Our findings suggest that genotype 4 is the most common among native Saudi Arabian patients with chronic hepatitis C infection. Genotypes 1b and 1a were also prevalent.
