Hepatitis G virus infection as a possible causative agent of community-acquired hepatitis and associated aplastic anaemia

Aplastic anaemia complicating hepatitis is a rare but well-documented phenomenon; however in many patients the cause remains unknown. We present a 24-year-old man with a well-defined community-acquired hepatitis, probably due to hepatitis G virus (HGV), who developed severe aplastic anaemia. In this case, the absence of other agents likely to cause the clinical manifestations, and the detection of HGV RNA at the time of illness, clearly point to this agent as being responsible for both the hepatitis and the aplastic anaemia. Further studies in serial serum samples and meticulous evaluation of the disorders associated with the infection will be needed to prove or dispute a causal association of HGV and aplastic anaemia.