HEPATITIS G ("GBV-C") VIRUS
aka "GBV-C"
RNA virus; distantly related to HCV
May cause about 20% of postransfusion hepatitis and 15%
of community-acquired hepatitis not caused by A through E
About 20% of pts with HCV are co-infected with HGV
Viremia can last for years, even after LFT's are back to
nl
(Science 271:505, 1996-JW)
Severity of Hep A, B, or C doesn't seem to be worse with
coexistent Hep G (NEJM 336:741, 1997-JW)
- Not conclusively known to cause any human illness
- About 2% of healthy US blood donors are infected
- Infection with GBV-C was associated with increased survival in
HIV-infected pts in a prospective trial of 362 pts (mortality RR 0.5 over 4y
observation) (NEJM 345:707, 2001--JW)