J Gastroenterol 1998 Jun;33(3):419-423

Two patients with acute Hepatitis B with suspected sexual transmission of Hepatitis G virus.

Tanaka E, Nakatsuji Y, Kobayashi M, Orii K, Kiyosawa K Second Department of Internal Medicine, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan.

Two patients with acute Hepatitis B with suggested sexual transmission of Hepatitis G virus (HGV) are reported. A total of 18 patients with community acquired acute Hepatitis B were analyzed in this study. Two of the 18 patients (patients 1 and 2) were positive for serum HGV RNA at the initial consultation. Both patients had had sexual contact with prostitutes several weeks before the onset of acute hepatitis, and Hepatitis B virus (HBV) was suggested to be infected through the sexual contacts. These patients showed no other history of exposure to possible transmission routes for blood-borne hepatitis viruses. Patient 1 was diagnosed as with acute HGV infection because the antibody to HGV envelope-2 protein seroconverted to positive during the course of acute hepatitis. HGV RNA was negative in a serum sample collected from patient 2 before the onset of acute hepatitis, also suggesting acute HGV infection. These results indicate that in patients 1 and 2 HGV was infected along with HBV through sexual contact. The clinical manifestations of acute hepatitis in the two patients with HGV co-infection did not differ from those in the 16 patients with HBV infection alone.

PMID: 9658324, UI: 98322460