Prevalence of hepatitis G virus infection and homology of different viral strains in Southern China.

Aim: To investigate the prevalence of hepatitis G virus (HGV) infection and to analyse the homology of different HGV strains in Southern China.

Methods: A total of 1993 sera from different groups in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Yunnan were detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The nucleotide sequences of 5'untranslated region (5'UTR) derived from 20 strains and NS5 region from 3 strains were determined.