TY - JOUR
T1 - Antibodies to the E2 protein of GB virus C/hepatitis G virus
T2 - Low prevalence in Asian countries
AU - Ross, Rudolf Stefan
AU - Viazov, Sergei
AU - Da Villa, Giuliano
AU - Schmitt, Urban
AU - Tacke, Michael
AU - Ofenloch-Haehnle, Beatus
AU - Roggendorf, Michael
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgement. This study was supported in part by IFORES (Scientific Foundation of the University of Essen).
PY - 1998/11
Y1 - 1998/11
N2 - Epidemiological investigations of GB virus C (GBV-C)/hepatitis G virus (HGV), an infectious agent discovered in 1995/1996, are facilitated by a recently developed immunoassay for the detection of antibodies to the viral envelope 2 protein (anti-E2). We used this assay to establish GBV-C/HGV prevalence in seven European, African, and Asian countries. A total of 1579 serum samples from healthy adults lacking prior exposure to known parenteral risk factors was screened. Anti-E2 positivity ranged from 13.6% (Italy) to 7.7% (Mauritius) in the European and African countries investigated. Anti-E2 prevalence was exceedingly low in the Philippines and Sri Lanka. This observation might be attributable to socio-economical and demographic factors.
AB - Epidemiological investigations of GB virus C (GBV-C)/hepatitis G virus (HGV), an infectious agent discovered in 1995/1996, are facilitated by a recently developed immunoassay for the detection of antibodies to the viral envelope 2 protein (anti-E2). We used this assay to establish GBV-C/HGV prevalence in seven European, African, and Asian countries. A total of 1579 serum samples from healthy adults lacking prior exposure to known parenteral risk factors was screened. Anti-E2 positivity ranged from 13.6% (Italy) to 7.7% (Mauritius) in the European and African countries investigated. Anti-E2 prevalence was exceedingly low in the Philippines and Sri Lanka. This observation might be attributable to socio-economical and demographic factors.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0032215030&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0934-8840(98)80017-0
DO - 10.1016/S0934-8840(98)80017-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 9861685
AN - SCOPUS:0032215030
SN - 0934-8840
VL - 288
SP - 415
EP - 419
JO - Zentralblatt fur Bakteriologie
JF - Zentralblatt fur Bakteriologie
IS - 3
ER -
