Iraqi Journal of Hematology (Jan 2015)
Hepatitis G virus infection and genotypes in Iraqi thalassemia patients
Abstract
Background : HGV infects patients at risk for parenteral exposure and chronic blood transfusion, such as those with β- thalassemia major. Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of HGV infection in thalassemia patient and furthermore to sequence and analyze phylogentic of HGV. Materials and methods : A prospective study conducted between Feb. to May, 2014. A total of 154 Beta thalassemia patients (87 male; 67 female), from Alkarama teaching hospital and Ibn AL-baladi hospital maternity &children′s hospital; aged 18-50 years , who received regular blood transfusions were included in the study. All patients were screened for Antibody against E2 glycoprotein of HGV (Anti-E2 Ab) by using ELISA to detect the presence of HGV infection. While Detection of HGV genomes was done by RT-PCR. Results: One hundred fifty four thalassemia patients (87 male, 67 female) of 18-50 years were involved in this study. Using the ELISA method, Anti-HGV was detected in 16 patients out of 154 (10.4%) with peak prevalence age group was between 20-24 years. Reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) showed HGV-cDNA was detected in 28 (18.2%) only. The peak age prevalence of HGV infection was under 20 years; however, there were no significant differences in prevalence among two sexes or number of blood transfusion. The results of genotyping in 12 randomly selected patients showed presence of genotype 2 and genotype 5 with percentage of 91.7% and 8.3% respectively. Conclusion: the prevalence rate of HGV RNA in β-thalassemia major patients is 18.2%, while the prevalence rate of anti-HGV (past infection) is 10.4%. No one of thalassemia patients had HGV RNA and anti-HGV simultaneously. The Gene sequence analysis of PCR products identified HGV genotypes 2 and 5 with percentage of 91.7% and 8.3% respectively
