Hepatitis G virus is one of the emerging virus found in human blood. Although it had been discovered in 1989, however, whether it is pathogenic or not is still uncertain. It has been found that HGV RNA can be detected in 0.8 to 11.1 % of blood donors in different regions of the world, the positivity of HGV in blood donors in USA has been reported as 1.4-1.7%. HGV had been found at about 9% in non A-E hepatitis. The prevalence of HGV in healthy leukapheresis donors in USA was studied. Serum samples were collected in Division of Transfusion Medicine, NIH Clinical Center. HGV RNA was extracted with quanidine thiocyanate and phenol (Trizol), and chloroform. HGV RNA was detected using nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using primers located at 5' non-coding region of HGV genome. A 255 bp. PCR product was detected by electrophoresis and ethidium bromide staining. Preliminary results showed that the HGV prevalence in leukapheresis donors in USA is at about 4%, which is a little higher than previously reported in blood donors in USA. Although the reasons for this slightly higher rate are uncertain, the HGV project is being terminated at the end of this fiscal year.
