Prevalence, Epidemiological Aspects and Clinical Importance of TT Virus Infection in Slovakia

Kristian, Pavol; Schréter, Ivan; Siegfried, Leonard; Jarčuška, Pavol; Birošová, Eva; Porubčin, Štefan; Rajnič, Alojz; Gočalová, Andrea

doi:10.14712/18059694.2017.108

Acta Medica > Archive > 2006, Vol. 49 > Issue 1 > Prevalence, Epidemiological Aspects and…

Acta Med. 2006, 49: 41-45

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059694.2017.108

Prevalence, Epidemiological Aspects and Clinical Importance of TT Virus Infection in Slovakia

Pavol Kristian^a, Ivan Schréter^a, Leonard Siegfried^b, Pavol Jarčuška^a, Eva Birošová^b, Štefan Porubčin^a, Alojz Rajnič^c, Andrea Gočalová^c

^aP. J. Safarik University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases, Košice, Slovakia
^bP. J. Safarik University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Microbiology, Košice, Slovakia
^cP. J. Safarik University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Nephrology, Košice, Slovakia

Received October 1, 2005
Accepted March 1, 2006

The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence, clinical impact and importance of different risk factors of transmission of TTV infection in Slovakia using two PCR methods. Sera of 426 adult persons were examined. TTV DNA was identified by PCR using primers from N22 and untranslated region (UTR) respectively. The established prevalence of TTV tested with N22 and UTR primers according to patients groups was: acute hepatitis of unknown etiology 4 resp. 28 of 37, acute hepatitis B 3 resp. 29 of 38, chronic hepatitis B 11 resp. 41 of 44, chronic hepatitis C 10 resp. 93 of 102, hemodialysis patients 13 resp. 72 of 72, health care workers 0 resp. 27 of 33, control group 8 resp. 83 of 100. Using N22 primers, TTV infection occurred more frequently in chronic hepatitis B group compared with health care workers, if UTR primers were used the group of hemodialysis patients differed significantly from both acute hepatitis groups, health care workers and controls (p<0.05). From possible risk factors hemodialysis and transfusion count showed notable differences. Bilirubin and aminotransferase levels did not differ between TTV positive and negative groups. No pathogenetic role of TT virus in liver injury was confirmed.

Keywords

TT virus, Prevalence, PCR, Viral hepatitis, Hemodialysis, Blood transfusions, Pathogenicity.

Funding

This work was supported by the grant No.1/9330/02 of the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education of Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences.