Summary
Hepatitis G virus (HGV), a novel flavivirus, has been implicated as a cause of posttransfusion
hepatitis. We have performed a longitudinal study in a cohort of haemophiliacs (n
= 68) who previously received non-virus inactivated coagulation factor concentrates
to assess both patterns of HGV viraemia and any associated liver disease. Hepatitis
C virus (HCV) RNA was present in 58/68 and co-infection with human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) was present in 15/68.
HGV RNA was detected in 17/68 (25%) samples from the mid-1980s. There was no association
between either HIV infection (p = 0.74) or co-infection with a particular HCV genotype
(p = 0.62). However, there was a relationship between HGV viraemia and the severity
of haemophilia (p = 0.0004) with HGV RNA detected in 5/19, 9/16 and 3/32 patients
with mild, moderate and severe haemophilia respectively.
A longitudinal study was performed in 15/17 haemophiliacs with HGV viraemia using
stored serum samples from the 1980s and 1990s. HGV viraemia persisted in 8/15 and
cleared in 7/15 over a variable period of time. A Weibull model was constructed to
estimate the duration of HGV viraemia in the study group. The 75th and 90th percentiles
for the duration of HGV were estimated to be 8.7 years (95%, confidence interval 4.8-15.7)
and 23.6 years (95% confidence interval 11.8-47.1) respectively. Laparoscopic liver
inspection/biopsy was performed in 25/68. There was no association between severity
of liver disease and HGV viraemia (p = 0.43). This study demonstrates considerable
variation in patterns of HGV viraemia in haemophiliacs. We found little evidence to
implicate HGV as a major cause of chronic liver disease in haemophiliacs.
