Washington: Declaration that Hepatitis G virus is non-harmful by the US Food and Drug Administration may have been the wrong decision, researchers say.
They claim that transmission of the virus through donated blood that was not screened for the virus as well as infection through other routes has led to an increase in cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
Intriguingly, some evidence suggests that co-infection with the AIDS virus, HIV, somehow enhances the immune system in patients.
However, it is the effects of the virus on the livers of otherwise healthy patients that is of concern to Mughis Uddin Ahmed of the King Abdulaziz Hospital (NGHA) in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
He points out that since the FDA declared the virus not to cause health problems to humans in 1997, no donated blood has been screened for this virus.
However, Mughis Uddin Ahmed has carried out a review of the scientific literature for the last 16 years that show the virus to be quite prevalent around the globe. Moreover, there is a correlation with infection with this virus and hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver and it is possibly linked to hepatocellular carcinoma. He also found an apparent link with hematological disorders and hematological malignancies.
The study has been published in the international journal of Immunological Studies.
