Rapport til Statens helsetilsyn om hepatitt G virus hos norske blodgivere

Hepatitis G virus (HGV) occurs world wide, and the prevalence of HG V-RNA positive blood donors ranges between 1 and 10%. The clinical si gnificance of this virus is still unclear. Plasma from 1002 blood donors were tested by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using primers from the NS5 region and by a commercial test for the d etection of IgG antibodies against the putative envelope of HGV (ant i-E2). HGV-RNA was present in the plasma from 25 (2,5%) of the blo od donors, and anti-E2 antibodies could be detected in 10,5% of the s amples. None of the blood donors with viremia had elevated levels of alanine aminotranseferase. Only 12% of them had received blood and 32 % had received immunoglobulins. Four of 12 partners (33%) were HGV-RN A positive, and sequence analyses of the strains showed that three of the couples probably were infected with the same strains, but strain s from different couples were not identical. Anti-E2 antibodies were detected in serum samples from four other partners (33%). Since t he prevalence of HGV in this population is dramatically higher than t he prevalence of hepatitis C virus (0,03%), other ways of transmissio n must be important. Our studies show that sexual transmission of HGV contributes significantly to the distribution of this virus among or dinary blood donors.