detection of hepatitis g virus(gbv-c),in chronic hepatitis c patient,by rt-nested pcr

background: hepatitis g virus (gbv-c) is a single strand rnapositive virus and is a member of flaviviridae family. infection with the virus is prevalent add has worldwide distribution. accurate diagnosis of the virus is very important, because of co-infection with other important viruses like hcv, hbv and hiv, it may influence on pathogenesis, disease progression and response to viral therapy. materials and methods: in the current investigation a sensitive and accurate rt-nested pcr for isolation and detection of 5'-utr sequences of hepatitis g virus (gbv-c) was developed and applied. first genome of the virus was extracted and then, by reverse transcription method, cdna was synthesized. then, by use of a double stage pcr and two pairs of specific primers, the specified region of the virus genome was amplified and the final product was visualized on agarose gel electrophoresis. results: based on five positive samples, the method was developed and optimized. then, by use of the developed method, 71 sera samples from chronic hcv infected patients, was checked for hepatitis g virus (gbv-c). finally, it was shown that 31(43.6%) patients were positive for hepatitis g virus. conclusion: based in the results in the current study, it was shown that the developed assay has acceptable performance for diagnosis of hepatitis g virus infection.also it was concluded that the infection rate among chronic hcv infected patients is high.