Hepatitis TT virus infection in high-risk groups

Abstract

The novel hepatitis TT virus first described by a Japanese group has been reported to be parenterally transmitted and furthermore, to have been detected in patients with hepatitis of unknown etiology. Hence, in the present study its prevalence was investigated within groups at high risk for contracting blood-borne viruses, such as individuals with chronic liver disease, intravenous drug users and recipients of blood and blood products, as compared to voluntary blood donors and pregnant women. To that end, DNA was extracted from sera obtained from the respective patients and subjected to PCR using semi-nested primers. The frequency of TTV DNA detected within high risk groups, such as nine out of 50 patients with chronic non-A-to-G liver disease (18%), nine out of 98 hepatocellular carcinoma cases (9.2%), 17 out of 52 intravenous drug users (32.7%), 15 out of 80 thalassemia patients with multiple blood transfusions (18.8%) and three out of 31 prostitutes (9.7%) exceeded that among voluntary blood donors and pregnant women, which amounted to 14 out of 200 (7%) and seven out of 103 (6.8%), respectively. Additional molecular research should be performed in order to determine its short-, as well as long-term clinical significance.

Prevalence and Phylogenetic Analysis of TT Virus DNA in Western India

“…The comparable prevalence rates among CLD patients and voluntary blood donors suggest that TTV may not be pathogenic in most infected individuals, confirming observations from the United Kingdom (14), Taiwan (8), and recently, Japan (10). However, these observations are in contrast to other reports from Japan (17), the United States (3), and Thailand (19). Interestingly, none of the 21 HBV DNAand HCV RNA-negative CLD patients were TTV DNA positive.…”

Prevalence and genetic variants of hepatitis GB-C/HG and TT viruses in Gabon, equatorial Africa.

“…Similar prevalences of TTV have been reported in pregnant women and unselected blood donors in Thailand. 41 Thus, the high prevalence of TTV viremia in pregnant Gabonese women probably reflects extensive exposure of the general population in this area. As there is currently no serological assay for TTV infection, we were only able to investigate active TTV infection.…”

Molecular Properties, Biology, and Clinical Implications of TT Virus, a Recently Identified Widespread Infectious Agent of Humans

“…McDonald et al (89) and Poovorawan et al (135) reported that, in contrast to hepatitis B and C, the frequency of TTV infection in individuals at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases was not particularly high. Together with other findings (26,55,105), this suggests that sexual transmission plays an unimportant role, if any.…”