Background

Patients on maintenance haemodialysis (HD) are at greater risk of parenterally transmitted infection with not only A-E hepatitis virus but also with hepatitis G virus (HGV) that has been recovered from patients with non A-E hepatitis.

The prevalence of HGV infection in HD patients, which is based on the detection of HGV RNA using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction techniques, differs widely between countries.

Recently, a new assay has been developed that detects an antibody to the envelope protein (E2) of HGV (anti-E2) that appears to be associated with the loss of HGV RNA from the serum and which may be a useful marker for previous HGV infection.

Methods

To determine the actual prevalence of HGV infection in maintenance HD patients, we examined both HGV RNA and anti-E2 antibody in sera from 200 patients undergoing maintenance HD.

Results

Thirty patients (15%) tested positive for HGV RNA, and 14 (7%) tested positive for E2 antibody.

Of these, two individuals tested positive for both markers.

Overall, 21% of these HD patients had been exposed to HGV.

A logistic regression analysis failed to show any clinical feature associated with the detection of HGV RNA.

The duration of HD and the presence of HCV RNA were associated with anti-E2.

Male gender and HCV RNA were risk factors for the elevation of serum ALT activities.

HGV RNA sequences of the patients were not identical to each other. (...)