Infection with GB virus C (GBV-C) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) was surveyed in various populations in Kathmandu, Nepal. GBV-C
RNA and HCV
RNA were detected in four (2%) and none, respectively, of 181 normal controls. Viral RNAs were detected significantly more frequently (P < 0.001) in 32 (44%) and 43 (60%), respectively, of 72 users of illicit intravenous drug, and in three (14%) and one (5%) of 22 patients on maintenance
hemodialysis. The three
hemodialysis patients with GBV-C
RNA had been transfused with more blood units than the 19 without GBV-C
RNA (51 +/- 21 vs. 5 +/- 3 units, P < 0.01), and one was co-infected with HCV. Of 145 patients with chronic
liver disease, GBV-C
RNA was detected in four (3%) and HCV
RNA in 12 (8%); only one patient with GBV-C
RNA was without markers of HCV or
hepatitis B virus infection. In the 32 drug addicts infected with GBV-C, genotypes were G1 in two (6%), G2 in 26 (81%), G3 in three (9%), and the remaining one (3%) was coinfected with G2 and G3. GBV-C genotypes in the 13 individuals in the populations other than drug addicts were G2 in 11 (85%) and G3 in two (15%). HCV genotypes in the 43 drug addicts with
viremia were l/1a in 21 (49%), V/3a in 19 (44%) and l/1a plus V/3a in two (5%); these genotypes were not prevalent in normal controls and patients with chronic
liver disease in Nepal. These results indicate that GBV-C
infection is prevalent in healthy subjects in Nepal at a frequency (2%) comparable with those in the other countries and that GBV-C transmits efficiently by
intravenous drug abuse among drug addicts and by transfusion in
hemodialysis patients.