Background: HEPATITIS G virus (HGV) is a hepatotrope virus with unknown importance. The genome of the virus has been detected in patients with acute or chronic non-A-E HEPATITIS, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this study was to determine the association between HEPATITIS G and unknown chronic HEPATITIS.Methods: This case-control study was performed in Ebne-Sina military hospital in Hamadan, Iran. The cases were 35 military staff with unknown chronic HEPATITIS. The control group consisted of 59 healthy subjects who had normal levels of serum alanine aminoteransferase (ALT). The data were analyzed by SPSS, version18, using Fisher’s exact test, the Student’s t-test, and multivariate logistic regression analysis.Results: Only one patient in the case group (2.9%) tested positive for HGV antibodies, and no one was infected in the control group. There was no association between HGV infection and unknown chronic HEPATITIS in our study (P=0.37). A significant association was found between the male gender and unknown chronic HEPATITIS (OR=14.9, P=0.01).Conclusion: No association between HGV infection and unknown chronic HEPATITIS was found in our study, so it was not necessary to evaluate these patients for HGV infection.

Autoimmune HEPATITIS (AIH) is one of causes of chronic liver diseases. It is an unresolving inflammation of liver tissue and characterized by elevated transaminases, hypergammaglobulinemia, and circulating autoantibodies. The disorder occurs mostly in females (F:M ratio is 3.6 to 1) and is a relatively uncommon disorder with point prevalence of 8-16.8 per 100 000 population in western countries. Hiostologic hallmarks are interface HEPATITIS (also called piecemeal necrosis), and portallymphoplasmacytic infiltration.Dignostic criteria are based on excluding other etiologies of chronic liver disease,such as viral hepatic (A, B, C), metabolic disorders eg Wilson disese,drug induced HEPATITIS and alcoholic liver disease. Conventional autoantibodies are Antinuclear antibody (ANA), Smooth muscle antibody (SMA) and Anti liver kidney microsomal 1 (Anti LKM1).Some cases have combined clinical, laboratory or histologic features of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis (PBC) or Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) with AIH and are known as overlap syndrome. Standard treatments of AIH as the most successful treated form of chronic HEPATITIS are based on immunosuppression with corticosteroids alone or in combination with azathioprine.

Background and Aim: HEPATITIS G is a hepatotrope virus with unknown importance. Its prevalence among blood donors reaches about %4.8. The genome of the virus has been detected in patients with acute or chronic non A-E HEPATITIS, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of HEPATITIS G with unknown chronic HEPATITIS.Methods: This is a case-control study performed in Ebne-Sina Army Hospital in Hamadan. The case group was military staff with unknown chronic HEPATITIS and the control was healthy subjects. Chronic HEPATITIS was defined as elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT≥40 international unit per liter) for at least six month. Both case and control group were evaluated for common cause of chronic HEPATITIS such as viral HEPATITIS B or C, fatty liver and drug consumption and by any of these reason will excluded from the survey. Then HGV antibody was detected by ELISA method on 5 milliliter serum samples. Data analyzed by SPSS18- software using Fisher’s exact test, Student’s t-test, and multivariate logistic regression test.Result: A total of 94 patients were selected, which included 35 patients with chronic unknown HEPATITIS (cases) and 59 healthy subjects (controls). Only one patient in the case group was HGV antibody positive (%2.9), compare to no one of the control. However, there was no difference between the two groups in HGV antibody frequency (P=0.372).Conclusion: According to this survey, there was no association between HGV infection and chronic HEPATITIS.

Background: Advanced hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis has generally been considered to be irreversible. The aim of this study was to determine whether cirrhosis is reversible.Methods: Seven patients with autoimmune HEPATITIS with histologic evidence of cirrhosis were enrolled. After treatment, they had follow-up liver biopsy while in clinical and biochemical remission. Biopsy specimens were randomly coded in unpaired manner according to patient and were read independently by two pathologists using the modified HEPATITIS activity index (with a maximum stage of 6).Results: Three patients still had extensive fibrosis in the second liver biopsy. But four patients had almost total regression of their liver fibrosis. In the latter patients, the mean alanine aminotransferase level decreased from 776.3 U/L to 23 U/L. The mean bilirubin level decreased from 5.85 mg/dL, to 0.98 mg/dL. Extensive fibrosis or cirrhosis were present in all patients at diagnosis but were not present on follow-up liver biopsy. The mean fibrosis score decreased from 5.88 to 0.5 (P=0.0002), and the mean grading score from 11.38 to 2.5 (P=0.0008.).Conclusion: Frank cirrhosis due to autoimmune HEPATITIS may be reversible in some patients who respond to treatment.

Background and objective: Frequency of HEPATITIS G virus exposure in blood donors varies between 2.5% in Japan to 24.2% in Poland. Therefore there is a geographic difference in distribution of HEPATITIS G virus (HGV) in the world. We aimed to determine the frequency of HGV exposure in Iranian blood donors.Material and methods: Blood samples from 478 Iranian volunteer blood donors were tested. Positive anti-E2 samples were tested for HGV RNA by RT PCR using primers derived from the NS5A region of the viral genome.Results: From 478 donors enrolled in our study, 5(1%) of them were positive for anti-E2. Co-infection of HGV with HEPATITIS B virus (HBV) was seen in 33.3% but we didn't find HGV and HCV co-infection in our subjects. HGV RNA wasn't observed in 5 anti-E2 positive subjects. We didn't find HGV viremia and antibody at the same time.Conclusion: Regarding to low frequency of HGV exposure in blood donors it doesn't seem that supervision and screening of blood donors will be necessary. We didn't observe co-infection of HGV with HCV in our subjects, supporting that although parenteral route is the most effective way, other routes such as sexual contact and intra familial contact may also play role in HGV transmission.  

Background: Patients on hemodialysis are at a high-risk for acquiring blood-borne infections, such as HEPATITIS G, HEPATITIS C, and HEPATITIS B viruses. The aim of this investigation was to determine the prevalence of HGV infection among patients on hemodialysis and its co-infection with HEPATITIS C and B viruses in Ahvaz. Methods: Blood samples were collected from patients on hemodialysis during January to July, 2016. RNAs were extracted from sera and cDNA was prepared using the kit. The nested-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing of positive samples were carried out to determine HEPATITIS G virus genotypes. In addition, to evaluate the co-infection of HGV with HEPATITIS C and HEPATITIS B virus infections, the sera of all the individuals were tested for HEPATITIS C virus antibody and HBs-Ag by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assay. Results: The HGV RNA was found in 10% of the patients with dominant genotype 2a. About 2% of the patients on hemodialysis were co-infected with HEPATITIS C virus while 1% of them was co-infected with HEPATITIS B virus. The statistical analysis revealed that there was a significant correlation (P < 0. 01) between duration of the hemodialysis process and HEPATITIS G virus infectivity. Conclusions: The present study showed that patients, who used the hemodialysis devices in this city, were infected with HEPATITIS G, HEPATITIS B, and HEPATITIS C viruses. The data indicates that duration of dialysis is significantly related to infection of HEPATITIS G virus. Therefore, it is critical to control the sterility of these equipment for intercepting cross-infectivity.

Background: HEPATITIS G virus (GBV-C) is a single strand RNA positive virus and is a member of flaviviridae family. Infection with the virus is prevalent add has worldwide distribution. Accurate diagnosis of the virus very important, because of co-infection with other important viruses like HCV, HBV and HIV, it may influence on pathogenesis, disease progression and response to viral therapy.Materials and Methods: In the current investigation a sensitive and accurate and detection of 5'-UTR sequences of HEPATITIS G virus (GBV-C) was developed and applied. First genome of the virus was extracted and then, by Reverse Transcription method, cDNA was synthesized. Then, by use of a double stage PCR and two pairs of specific primers, the specified region of the virus genome was amplified and the final product was visualized on agarose gel electrophoresis.Results: Based on five positive samples, the method was developed and optimized. Developed method, sera samples from chronic HCV infected patients, (GBV-C). Finally, it was shown that 31 (43.6%) patients were positive for HEPATITIS G virus.Conclusion: Based in the results in the current study, it was shown that the developed assay has performance for diagnosis of HEPATITIS G virus infection. Also it was concluded that the infection rate among chronic HCV infected patients is high

Background and Aims: HEPATITIS G virus (HGV) has a worldwide distribution, and the prevalence rates among blood donors and high-risk groups are different. The purpose of this study was to assess the frequency of the HGV infection in blood donors as a blood borne pathogen and in high-risk groups (multitransfused patients), such as thalassemic, hemophillic, and hemodialysis patients. Methods: 400 Iranian (Tehran Blood Transfusion Center, 2004) blood donors were tested for HGV RNA by a reverse transcriptase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. The participants were negative in blood screening tests for HEPATITIS B surface antigen (HBsAg), HEPATITIS C virus antibodies (anti- HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Ag/Ab, and Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR). HGV RNA positivity was surveyed in 40 thalassaemic, 16 hemophilic, and 46 hemodialysis patients by RTPCR. To assess the frequency of infection, the prevalence of HGV RNA positive cases per 100 donors/patients with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated. P values were estimated with chi-square tests. Results: 19 (4.8%; 95% CI: 2.9-6.5%) out of 400 blood donors samples were HGV RNA positive. The prevalence of HGV infection was 5.28% (13 out of 243) in repeat donors, 4.12% (4 in 99) in lapsed donors, and 3.50% (2 out of 58) in first-time blood donors. The combined prevalence of HGV infection in these groups of patients was 16 (15.7%; 95% CI: 8.3-23.1%) out of 102 samples. HGV RNA frequency was 1 out of 40 (2.5%; 95% CI: 1.8-3.2%) thalassemic patients, 15 out of 46 (32.6%; 95% CI: 16.8-48.4%) hemodialysis patients, and 0 out of 16 hemophilics patients. Conclusions: The prevalence of HGV RNA in the high-risk population was 15.7% and nearly 3 times more than blood donors (4.8%). These data indicate the possibility of parenteral transmission of HGV, especially by transfusion of blood and blood components. Decisions to screen blood supplies for a transfusion-transmitted infection agent should be based on sufficient benefits for recipients.

Background: HEPATITIS G virus (HGV) is a blood-borne virus. Some data demonstrate an occupational risk of HGV infection in dialysis staff. The presence of HGV envelope protein E2 antibody (anti-E2) testifies past HGV contact. The aim of this study was to detection of HGV anti-E2 in dialysis staff.Methods: This study was undertaken in a dialysis unit in Tehran. In 27 dialysis staff, presence of HGV anti-E2 was detected by an ELISA assay and compared with 77 hemodialysis (HD) and 13 continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. All of the subjects were also screened for HEPATITIS B surface antigen (HBsAg), HEPATITIS B surface antibody (anti-HBs), and HEPATITIS C antibody (anti-HCV).Results: HGV anti-E2 was not found in any of dialysis staff (0%). The frequency of HGV anti-E2 was 3.89% and 0% in HD and CAPD patients respectively .The Frequency of anti-HCV and anti-HBs in staff was 0% and 33.33% respectively.Conclusion: We didn't find HGV anti-E2 in dialysis staff in our study. So occupational risk for HGV exposure was minimal in our investigation.