Investigation of saliva, faeces, urine or semen samples for the presence of GBV-C RNA

Viral hepatitis and the surgeon

BACKGROUND

Viral hepatitis is an infection of the liver caused by one or more of six known (HAV-HGV) hepatotropic viruses. It is a common problem among health care workers and their patients. Surgeons are at particular risk of both acquiring and transmitting some of these viruses from and to their patients. Unfortunately, specific immunoprophylaxis for viral hepatitis is presently limited to protecting against the spread of hepatitis A and B viral infections, leaving a high degree of vigilance and careful surgical technique as the only means available to prevent the transmission of other viruses relative to the surgeon. The purpose of this paper is to review the various forms of viral hepatitis including the nature of the virus, serologic testing, clinical features, epidemiology (with specific reference to those issues that arise in surgical practice), treatment and prevention.

[The novel non-A, non-E hepatitis viruses and their pathogenic effect]

Molecular techniques have allowed the identification of new viruses in a number of patients with cryptogenic hepatitis. Whether they are clinically inapparent or true hepatitis agents remains unknown for some of them. Latest described viruses include GBV, TTV and SENV. However, based on the limited data available, they do not seem to be contenders for the new hepatitis virus title. However, researchers are looking for a role of these viruses in other chronic and acute human diseases. Only a careful evaluation of the data and the scientific concordance of all the evidence will resolve the question of whether they are only commensal viruses or pose a real pathogenic potential.

Prevalence of hepatitis G virus infection and homology of different viral strains in Southern China

AIM: To investigate the prevalence of hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection and to analyse the homology of different HGV strains in Southern China.

METHODS: A total of 1993 sera from different groups in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Yunnan were detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The nucleotide sequences of 5’untranslated region (5’UTR) derived from 20 strains and NS5 region from 3 strains were determined.

RESULTS: The positive rate of HGV RNA was 0.89% in community population, 2.57% in blood donors, 17.86% in intravenous drug abusers, 14.13% in patients with hemodialysis, 13.66% in those with hepatocellular carcinoma, 25.30% in non A-E hepatitis, 7.22% in hepatitis B, 12.73% in hepatitis C, 41.67% in patients received bone marrow transplantation, respectively. The homology was 90.40%-100% in 5’UTR among different strains, while that of NS5 region was 93.3%-94% in nucleotide sequence, and 97%-99.2% in amino acid sequence.

CONCLUSION: These results showed that there was a high incidence of HGV infection in patients from Southern China, being treated for bone marrow transplantation, hepatocellular carcinoma and those on haemodialysis. Furthermore, there was also a high frequency of co-infection of HGV with HBV, HCV, non A-E viral hepatitis and that among intravenous drug abusers. The study also showed that sequence variation in different strains was associated with geographical factors but there was no significant difference in 5’UTR in circulating viruses between different patient groups. Finally, by sequential analysis of viral species present in individual patients over a three months period there was no evidence of sequence variation in the 5' UTR.

Synergism between HIV and other viruses in the mouth

The HIV family replicate in and are shed from the mouth. Oral sexual practices potentially contribute to the overall extent of HIV transmission, particularly if high-risk practices are not restricted. Herpesviruses and papillomaviruses that appear in the oral cavity can determine oral HIV replication. The mechanisms probably include heterologous transactivation, enhanced expression of HIV receptors and co-receptors in target cells, release of cytokines and chemokines, and production of superantigens. Oral diseases peculiar to, or more common in, the HIV-infected patient further predispose to heightened oral HIV replication and trafficking. Defining the mechanisms by which oral viruses interact with HIV in the co-infected host should permit intervention measures against oral HIV transmission to be more precisely targeted.