PREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS G VIRUS MARKERS AMONG NORWEGIAN BLOOD DONORS AND SOME OF THEIR PARTNERS

The role of hepatitis G virus (HGV) in tranfusion-associated infectio n and its relation to clinical disease is not well understood. 1002 r epeat blo donors (549 men and 453 women) were randomly selected for s creening of HGV markers. All blood donors were negative for HBsAg, an ti-HBc, anti-HCV and HIV 1+2 antibodies. Sera from 12 partners of HGV PCR positive blood donors were also tested. An in-house PCR with pri mers and probe from the NS5b region of the HGV genome was used to det ect specific nucleotide sequences. HGV E2 antibodies were detected by a commercial EIA kit. HGV-RNA was present in 2,5% of the blood donor s, and anti-E2 antibodies could be detected in 10,5% of the samples. None of the blood donors with viremia had elevated levels of alanine aminotranseferase. Only 12% of them had received blood and 32% had re ceived immunoglobulins. Four (33%) out of 12 of their partners were H GV-RNA positive, and sequence analyses of the strains showed that thr ee of the couples probably were infected with the same strains, but s trains from different couples were not identical. Anti-E2 antibodies were detected in four other partners. The prevalence of HGV markers a mong partners (67%) of the HGV-RNA positive blood donors was signifi cantly higher (p