High prevalence of GB virus-C infection in haemodialysis patients

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Nephrol Dial Transplant (1999) 14: 1802–1808. Nephrology. Dialysis. Transplantation. Letters. This study revealed a high prevalence of GBV-C infection.
Nephrol Dial Transplant (1999) 14: 1802–1808

Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation

Letters High prevalence of GB virus-C infection in haemodialysis patients Sir, Discovery of GB virus C (GBV-C ) revealed that the prevalence of GBV-C viraemia is much higher in haemodialysis (HD) patients. We would like to report our investigation of the prevalence, risk factors and clinical relevance of GBV-C infection in 52 HD patients from Taiwan. Sera were collected and tested for the presence of GBV-C RNA from these 52 patients and 97 normal controls. GBV-C RNA were detected using nested PCR with primers derived from NS3 region of the viral genome [1]. The sensitivity for detection of GBV-C RNA by our assay was estimated as 2×105 copies per ml after first round of PCR and 2×103 copies per ml after nested PCR. Among the 52 HD patients, 19 (36.5%) were positive for GBV-C RNA, 19 (36.5%) were positive for anti-hepatitus C virus (anti-HCV ), 10 (19.2%) were positive for HCV-RNA and 8 (15.4%) were positive for HBsAg. The prevalence of GBV-C viraemia among HCV RNA positive patients was 50% (5/10). Of the 97 normal controls, 7.2% (7/97) were positive for GBV-C RNA after nested PCR. The HD patients had significantly higher prevalence of GBV-C RNA when compared to normal controls (36.5% of HD vs 7.2% of normal, P