Prevalence of transfusion‐transmitted virus infection in patients on maintenance hemodialysis from New Delhi, India

Abstract

Transfusion-transmitted virus (TTV) has been reported from a number of hemodialysis (HD) units from various countries throughout the world. TTV has been associated with liver diseases, viral hepatitis B, and C. Clinical details and information regarding TTV prevalence from India are insufficient. The prevalence and clinical significance of TTV infection were studied in New Delhi, India in HD patients. Serum samples were derived from 75 patients on maintenance HD, and 75 age- and sex-matched voluntary blood donors were examined for TTV viremia by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers derived from UTR (A) region of the TTV genome. The prevalence of TTV DNA in patients on HD (83%) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than in blood donors (43%). Clinical background including the mean age, sex, mean duration of HD, and mean alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels did not differ significantly between TTV DNA-positive and -negative HD patients. Fifty-four (72%) TTV-positive HD patients and 7 (56%) TTV-negative HD patients had blood transfusion histories (p>0.05). Among TTV-positive patients, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection was present in 14.2% cases while hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection was absent. Persistent elevation of ALT levels was observed in 7(9.3%) HD patients; 3 (43%) of them were TTV positive and 4 (57%) were TTV negative (p>0.05). All 3 TTV-positive patients with elevated ALT levels were co-infected with HBV. Patients with TTV infection alone showed normal ALT levels. Prevalence of TTV infection is high in North Indian patients on maintenance HD. Also, none of the exclusively TTV DNA-positive patients had clinical or biochemical signs of liver disease. TTV seems to spread through parenteral routes. More often, TTV seems to be associated with parenterally transmitted virus HBV, indicating a parenteral mode of TTV transmission. The pathogenicity of TTV remains unclear from the present study.

Incidence and clinical implication of TT virus in patients with hepatitis and its frequency in blood donors in India

“…Asim et al 4 reported TTV-DNA in 45.3% volunteer blood donors whereas rate of TTV-DNA infection reported by Chattopadhyay et al 5 was 83% in patients on HD in New Delhi. The clinical background, age, sex, duration of HD and ALT levels did not differ significantly between TTV DNApositive and negative HD patients.…”

Seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C virus markers among blood donors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1998-2005

“…Over many years, hepatitis was the main cause of transfusion-associated chronic disease, liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and death (Chattopadhyay et al 2005). Since 1993, the screening of blood donors for HBV and HCV infection became obligatory in Brazil as part of the HIV control program, leading to a tighter control of blood samples used in transfusion (Gonçales Junior 1998).…”

The seroprevalance of hepatitis E, hepatitis G and TTV in haemodialysis patients

“…Hemodiyaliz hastalarında hepatite neden olan hepatit E (HEV), Hepatit G (HGV) , transfüzyonla bulaşan virus (TTV) viruslerinin sıklığına ilişkin çeşitli çalışmalar yapılmıştır ve Transfusion transmitted virus (TTV)'un bulaş yolu tam olarak aydınlatılamasa da, hemodiyaliz hastalarında TTV seroprevalansı %9,3-83 arasında değişmektedir [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”