Objective: To investigate the hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection among patients with liver diseases.
Methods: Anti-HGV was detected by ELISA among 154 patients with liver diseases (no history of blood transfusion), 54 of them, HGV RNA was detected by RT-PCR concomitantly. The rates of anti-HGV and HGV RNA were calculated, respectively. The positivity of HGV RNA was taken as diagnostic criteria for HGV infection in different kinds of liver disease.
Results: Of 154 patients with liver diseases, anti-HGV was positive in 31 patients, the detectable rate of anti- HGV was 20.13%. HGV RNA was detected in 13 of 54 patients, the detectable rate was 24.07%. The positive rates of HGV RNA tested in 35 patients with chronic hepatitis and 6 patients with fatty-liver were 20.00% (7/35) and a ratio of 5/6, respectively.
Conclusions: (1) HGV infection is considerably prevalent among patients with non-transfusion transmitted sporadic hepatitis. (2) HGV is a responsible agent for chronic hepatitis. (3) The clinical significance of detectable HGV RNA in patients with fatty-liver remains for further study.