The flavivirus GB virus C (also designated hepatitis G virus) was identified in a search for hepatitis viruses, but no disease is currently known to be associated with it. Two reports in September 6
Jinhua Xiang and colleagues, from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, examined the effect of coinfection with GBV-C on the survival of patients with HIV infection. They found that the mortality among the 218 HIV-infected patients without GBV-C coinfection was significantly higher than that among the 144 patients with GBV-C coinfection. In addition, HIV replication was inhibited in cultures of peripheral-blood mononuclear cells by GBV-C coinfection (
In a separate study, Hans Tillmann and co-workers from Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, followed prospectively 197...