Objective: Hemophilic patients are at great risk of blood-borne viral infections due to plasma derivates transfusion. The objective of the study is to analyze the prevalence of hepatitis G virus (HGV)infection in a cohort of pediatric hemophilia A patients.

Methods: 37 hemophilia A patients followed up at four hemophilia units were studied. Median age was 11.5 years (range 5-16 years). All patients had received intermediate and high purity factor VIII concentrates. 58 adult hemophiliacs were additionally studied to compare the prevalence of HGV infection. Anti-HIV and anti-HCV antibodies were detected by ELISA methods and confirmed by Western Blot and RIBA respectively. HGV RNA was extracted from plasma and amplified by specific RT-PCR with primer pairs derived from the 5′non coding region (5′NCR) of the HGV genome and digoxigenin labelled deoxynucleotides. PCR products were detected by solution hybridization to a biotin-labelled 5′NCR specific capture probe complementary to the inner part of the amplicon. Hybrids were immobilized to a streptavidin-coated microtiter plate surface and the bound hybrid was detected by an anti-digoxigenin peroxidase conjugate.

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