A study on the serologic and molecular prevalence of hepatitis G virus (HGV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in patients with thalassemia in Larestan of Iran

Hepatitis G virus (HGV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections may have role in introducing or complicating the clinical outcome in patients with thalassemia. In this study, the molecular and serological prevalence of HGV and HCV infections were evaluated in patients with thalassemia and compared with healthy controls. In a cross sectional study, the samples were collected from 86 patients with thalassemia and 100 healthy controls. The anti-HCV and HGV antibodies were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods. Also, the HGV and HCV viremia were analyzed in patients with thalassemia and controls by multiplex-nested-real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) protocol. Our results showed that the anti-E2-HGV and HCV antibodies were found in 16 of 86 and 18 of 86 of thalassemia patients and none of controls, respectively. HGV viremia was diagnosed in 13 of 86 of patients with thalassemia and in 1 of 100 of controls. HCV-RNA was diagnosed in 12 of 86 and 6 of 100 of thalassemia and healthy controls, respectively. The diagnosis of significant higher prevalence of HGV and HCV in patients with thalassemia compared with controls in this region of Iran emphasized the importance of these lymphotropic viral hepatitis infections in pathogenesis and outcome of thalassemia patients.