Hepatitis G Infection in Drug Abusers with Chronic Hepatitis C

To the Editor: The detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection by enzyme immunoassay and molecular biologic techniques still leaves unidentified other hepatitis viruses that may be responsible for acute and chronic hepatitis unrelated to infection with hepatitis A, B, C, D, or E virus (non-A–E hepatitis). 1 A possible agent for human non-A–E hepatitis has been named hepatitis GB virus type C (HGBV-C). 2 Its RNA can be detected by the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers deduced from the helicase-like region. HGBV-C is an important cause of non-A–E fulminant hepatitis. 3 Forty-nine men with HCV-associated chronic liver disease (mean age, . . .