Hepatitis F virus

Hepatitis F is a hypothetical virus linked to hepatitis. Several hepatitis F candidates emerged in the 1990s; none of these reports have been substantiated. [cite journal | author=Uchida T | title=Genetic variations of the hepatitis B virus and their clinical relevance | journal=Microbiol Immunol | year=1993 | pages=425–39 | volume=37 | issue=6 | pmid=7694049] [cite journal | author=Fagan EA | title=Acute liver failure of unknown pathogenesis: the hidden agenda | journal=Hepatology | year=1994 | pages=1307–12 | volume=19 | issue=5 | pmid=8175156] cite journal | author=Bowden S | title=New hepatitis viruses: contenders and pretenders | journal=J Gastroenterol Hepatol | year=2001 | pages=124–31 | volume=16 | issue=2 | pmid=11207890 | doi=10.1046/j.1440-1746.2001.02405.x]

Most recently, in 1994 Deka "et al" reported that novel viral particles had been discovered in the stool of post-transfusion, non-hepatitis A, non-hepatitis B, non-hepatitis C, non-hepatitis E patients.cite journal | author=Deka N, Sharma MD, Mukerjee R | title=Isolation of the novel agent from human stool samples that is associated with sporadic non-A, non-B hepatitis | journal=J Virol | year=1994 | pages=7810–5 | volume=68 | issue=12 | pmid=7966570] Injection of these particles, into the bloodstream of Indian rhesus monkeys caused hepatitis, and the virus was named "hepatitis F", or Toga virus. Further investigations failed to confirm the existence of the virus, and it was delisted as a cause for infectious hepatitis.cite journal | author=Kelly D, Skidmore S | title=Hepatitis C-Z: recent advances | journal=Arch Dis Child | year=2002 | pages=339–43 | volume=86 | issue=5 | pmid=11970925 | doi=10.1136/adc.86.5.339]

A subsequently-discovered virus thought to cause hepatitis was named hepatitis G, though its role in hepatitis has not been confirmed and it is now considered synonymous with GB virus C and is an "orphan virus" with no causal links to any human disease.cite journal |author=Lefrère JJ, Laperche S, Roudot-Thoraval F |title=Hepatitis G virus: a suitable marker of in vivo efficacy for pathogen inactivation |journal=Vox Sang |volume= 95|issue= |pages= 76|year=2008 |month=April |pmid=18393946 |doi=10.1111/j.1423-0410.2008.01050.x |url=]

References