GB virus C/hepatitis G virus infection among Korean patients with liver diseases and general population.

Abstract GB virus C and hepatitis G virus (GBV-C/HGV) have been identified from the patients with acute or chronic liver diseases as possible agents of non-B, non-C hepatitis by two different groups, independently. To investigate whether GBV-C/HGV plays a role among Korean patients with liver diseases, GBV-C/HGV RNA were evaluated in 337 sera by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using specific primers derived from 5′-noncoding region of GBV-C/HGV genome. GBV-C/HGV RNA was identified in 11/337 (3.3%). They consisted of 1/160 (0.6%) and 10/177 (3.3%) among the general population and patients with liver diseases, respectively ( P