GB virus C hepatitis G virus infection in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection

GB virus C/hepatitis G virus (GBV-C/HGV) infection was examined in 96 chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients from 23 different countries. GBV-C/HGV RNA was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with primers derived from the 5'-untranslated region of GBV-C/HGV. All amplicons were sequenced and analyzed by molecular evolutionary methods. Although GBV-C/HGV RNA was detected in 18 of 96 patients (18.8%), we did not find any correlation between specific HCV genotypes and the positivity for GBV-C/HGV. GBV-C/HGV RNA was found predominantly among intravenous drug users (IVDUs) in European patients. The phylogenetic tree showed that the isolates could be grouped into three clusters. These data indicated that GBV-C/HGV is (i) already present in HCV patients of various countries, (ii) frequent among European IVDUs, (iii) a heterogeneous virus, and (iv) clustered into three different phylogenetic groups. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.