Prevalence of Hepatitis G Virus in Chronic Hepatitis and HIV Infected Patients and Co-infection with Some Mycotic Diseases

Abstract

This work aimed to study the incidence of HGV in chronic liver diseases in frequent blood donors and hemodialysis patients with or without HIV infection and influence of HGV on the course of HIV infection with some mycotic diseases. GB virus C (HGV) is classified as Pegivirus of the family Flaviviridae. It is a positive sense single stranded RNA virus. Due to the shared transmission modes with HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection with HGV is common among people infected with HIV, HBV and/or HCV. In the present study 60 individuals were divided into two main groups, group 1 (30 patients have routine hemodialysis each of them underwent dialysis on specific dialyzer according to the type of virus which he had) and group 2 (30 patientswho were frequent blood donors became chronic hepatitis patients.). They were mainly between 40 - 50 years old, 10% were females and 90% were males in blood donors group also 26.7% were females and 73.3 % were males in hemodialysis group. They are suffering from chronic liver disease. They were investigated to study the incidence of HGV in chronic liver diseases in frequent blood donors and hemodialysis patients with or without HIV infection, the influence of HGV on the course of HIV infection and the types of mycotic infections. In addition to 20 persons were not exposed to major risk factors for hepatitis as a control group. Liver biochemical profile showed significant relations with CD4 cells count where CD4 cells count decreased by increasing of ALT (SGPT), AST (SGOT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin, and by decreasing serum albumin. Regarding the CD4 cells count and PCR for HGV, patients with HGV had a higher CD4 cells count than patients without HGV (P value = 0.045 i.e significant relation). Patients with both HIV and HGV had a higher CD4 cells count than patients with HIV without HGV (P value = 0.001 i.e high significant relation). Results indicated that out of 30 patients of frequent blood donors (BD) group, 28 (93.3%) were negative for HIV and 2 (6.7%) were positive for HIV. Concerning hemodialysis group (HD), out of 30 patients 26 patients (86.7%) were negative for HIV and 4 patients (13.3%) were positive for HIV. In case of blood donors group, out of 30 patients, 26 (86.7%) were negative for HGV and 4 (13.3%) were positive for HGV. Out of 30 patients of hemodialysis group, 26 (86.7%) were negative for HGV and 4 (13.3%) were positive for HGV. This study found that HGV infection had a moderate frequency among hepatic hemodialysis and frequent blood donor patients. HIV co-infection with HGV was associated with significantly high CD4 cell count suggesting a beneficial effect of HGV infection on HIV co-infected patients. Fungi are either saprophytic or parasitic in nature, as they lack chlorophyll and cannot produce their own carbohydrate. Of the 50,000 known species of fungi, only 100-150 species of yeast and molds cause disease in humans. Humans are generally resistant to fungal infections; nevertheless, inhalation of spores of some of the dimorphic fungi produces illness ranging from mild to severe disseminated disease. Immunocompromised hosts are susceptible to illness from many usually innocuous fungi. Invasive fungal infection is a serious complication of liver transplantation, but its risk factors remain incompletely defined. Iron overload has already been associated with increased risk of fungal infections, but it has not yet been assessed as a risk factor in liver transplantation. Also, this study found that mycotic infection had a moderate frequency among hepatic hemodialysis and frequent blood donor patients. Isolation and identification of fungi gave rise to a total of 8 filamentous fungal isolates belonging to 4 genera and 5yeasts belonging to 3 genera. Key words: HGV, HIV, CD4 cells count.