Text Box: HEPATITIS G VIRUS (HGV) INFECTION AMONG PEDIATRIC PATIENTS ON REGULAR HEMODIALSIS TREATMENT Faheem M S1, Afifi H2, Reda S1 , EL-Sayed K1 1Department of Pediatrics,Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt 2Department of Clinical Pathology ,Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt Objectives: We attempted to assess the presence of HGV infection among children on maintenance hemodialysis (HD) and to study the effect of blood transfusion as well as HD on the incidence of this infectious agent. Methods: The present study included 42 patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) on maintenance HD. They were 29 males and 13 females. Their ages ranged from 1.5-16 years (12.8+3.5 years) and control group included 16 healthy children age and sex matched compared with the patients’ group. Thirty two samples were taken from the blood donated by apparently healthy volunteers. HGV infection was assessed by detection of anti-HGV IgG antibodies using ELISA technique and PCR. Results: Anti-HGV antibodies were detected in 45.24% of patients on regular HD and in 18.75% of samples taken from donated blood. Examination of samples by PCR technique revealed positive results in 14.3% of patients on regular HD and in 3.12% of samples taken from donated blood. All PCR positive cases were positive for anti-HGV antibodies. Conclusion: It could be concluded from our study that patients on maintenance HD are at increased risk of infection with HGV. Anti-HGV antibodies can serve as a screening method for estimating HGV infection among this group of patients as well as blood donors and PCR should be used for positive cases to rule out actual infection. Since the prevalence of HGV infection in blood donors in relatively high, blood transfusion could be one of the main factors contributing in the transmission of HGV in patients on maintenance hemodialysis. 2476