Clinical significance of TT virus infection in patients with chronic liver disease and volunteer blood donors in Egypt

TT virus and hepatitis G virus infections in Korean blood donors and patients with chronic liver disease

AIM: To determine the prevalences of TTV and HGV infections among blood donors and patients with chronic liver disease in Korea, to investigate the association of TTV and HGV infections with blood transfusion, and to assess the correlation between TTV and HGV viremia and hepatic damage.

METHODS: A total of 391 serum samples were examined in this study. Samples were obtained from healthy blood donors (n = 110), hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive donors (n = 112), anti-hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV)-positive donors (n = 69), patients with type B chronic liver disease (n = 81), and patients with type C chronic liver disease (n = 19). TTV DNA was detected using the hemi-nested PCR. HGV RNA was tested using RT-PCR. A history of blood transfusion and serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were also determined.

RESULTS: TTV DNA was detected in 8.2% of healthy blood donors, 16.1% of HBsAg-positive donors, 20.3% of anti-HCV-positive donors, 21.0% of patients with type B chronic liver disease, and 21.1% of patients with type C chronic liver disease. HGV RNA was detected in 1.8% of healthy blood donors, 1.8% of HBsAg-positive donors, 17.4% of anti-HCV-positive donors, 13.6% of patients with type B chronic liver disease, and 10.5% of patients with type C chronic liver disease. The prevalence of TTV and HGV infections in HBV- or HCV-positive donors and patients was significantly higher than in healthy blood donors (P < 0.05), except for the detection rate of HGV in HBsAg-positive donors which was the same as for healthy donors. There was a history of transfusion in 66.7% of TTV DNA-positive patients and 76.9% of HGV RNA-positive patients (P < 0.05). No significant increase in serum ALT and AST was detected in the TTV- or HGV-positive donors and patients.

CONCLUSION: TTV and HGV infections are more frequently found in donors and patients infected with HBV or HCV than in healthy blood donors. However, there is no significant association between TTV or HGV infections and liver injury.

High frequencies of HGV and TTV infections in blood donors in Hangzhou

AIM: To determine the frequencies of HGV and TTV infections in blood donors in Hangzhou.

METHODS: RT-nested PCR for HGV RNA detection and semi-nested PCR for TTV DNA detection in the sera from 203 blood donors, and nucleotide sequence analysis were performed.

RESULTS: Thirty-two (15.8%) and 30 (14.8%) of the 203 serum samples were positive for HGV RNA and TTV DNA, respectively. And 5 (2.5%) of the 203 serum samples were detectable for both HGV RNA and TTV DNA. Homology of the nucleotide sequences of HGV RT-nested PCR products and TTV semi-nested PCR products from 3 serum samples compared with the reported HGV and TTV sequences was 89.36%, 87.94%, 88.65% and 63.51%, 65.77% and 67.12%, respectively.

CONCLUSION: The infection rates of HGV and/or TTV in blood donors are relatively high, and to establish HGV and TTV examinations to screen blood donors is needed for transfusion security. The genomic heterogeneity of TTV or HGV is present in the isolates from different areas.