Prevalence of Hepatitis G virus (HGV) in High-Risk Groups and Blood Donors in Tehran, Iran
The hepatitis G virus (HGV) is a newly discovered RNA virus, which is associated with acute or chronic hepatitis. A survey was conducted in thalassemic patients, intravenous drug users (IVDU) and blood donors aiming to investigate the prevalence of hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection in these groups i...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Tehran University of Medical Sciences
2005-12-01
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| Series: | Iranian Journal of Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/1842 |
| Summary: | The hepatitis G virus (HGV) is a newly discovered RNA virus, which is associated with acute or chronic hepatitis. A survey was conducted in thalassemic patients, intravenous drug users (IVDU) and blood donors aiming to investigate the prevalence of hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection in these groups in Tehran. The presence of HGV RNA in these populations was determined using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of the 5’ non-coding region (NCR) of the virus. One percent of blood donors, 12.9% of thalassemics and 8.8% of the IVDUs, were infected with HGV. Twenty-five percent of HGV positive cases were also positive for HCV and none were positive for HBV-DNA. The greatest proportion of HCV positive cases were seen in IVDU group (67.4%) being the only HIV positive group (8.8%). In conclusion our study showed that HGV infection occurs with relatively intermediate frequency among thalassemics and IVDUs in Iran and a higher rate of HGV-RNA was observed in older IVDUs. |
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| ISSN: | 2251-6085 2251-6093 |