Prevalence of TT virus (TTV) infection in patients at high risk of parenterally transmitted viruses

Aim: To evaluate: I) TTV infection prevalence in a group o f patients (pts) with high risk o f parenteral exposure such as intravenous drug users 0DUs) and haemodialysed pts (HDs); 2) the clinical relevance o f TTV and the correlation with other hepatitis virus coinfection~ Mater ia l s and Methods: We studied 118 pts:40 with previous or ongoing history o f IDU and 78 HDs. All IDUs were anti-HCV+ve and 20 out them were HIV ceinfected. TTV-DNA was tested by semi-nested PCR using primers open reading flame 1 (ORF). HGV-RNA analysis was performed by PCR using specific primers for the NS3 and 5'UTR.The presence o f anti-E2 Ab was tested by ELISA assay. Qualitative HCV-RNA was performed by nested (in h o u s e ) R T PCR. R~ n l t s : Our data showed a lower prevalence o f TTV (21/118; 17.8%) as compared to HGV infection (38/118; 32.2%). In particular TTV-DNA was detected in 6 cases (15%) among IDUs and in 15 cases (19%) among HDs, while an higher prevalence (65%) o f HGV was present in IDUs group. TI 'V infection alone was present in few pts (4 l i d s ) which showed normal ALT levels while in all TTV+ve cases with ALT increase HCV-RNA was detected. Rarely we observed TTV and HGV coinfection in both groups. Conclusions: The prevalence o f TI 'V infection was lower when compared to HGV. These data suggest the lower importance o f parenteral route for TTV. As far as the clinical impact o f TTV is concerned, the data showed that in the TTV+ve pts ALT increase may be related to HCV activity, [ eo o3s I Viral hepatitis." clinical aspects