Infection with GB Virus C and Reduced Mortality among HIV-Infected Patients

The GBV-C viral load correlated inversely with the HIV viral load. Patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are often coinfected with other viruses, especially hepatitis viruses. 1 Coinfection with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) appears to increase the mortality rate among HIV-infected patients. 2 , 3 The course of HCV infection is accelerated in patients who are coinfected with HIV, as compared with the course in immunocompetent patients. 4 – 9 In 1995, a new virus was identified that is related to the hepatitis C virus and was thought to be another hepatitis virus. 10 , 11 It has been called both GB virus C (GBV-C) 10 and hepatitis G virus (HGV). . . .