Korean J Med.  2000 Dec;59(6):612-617.

Prevalence of TT virus (TTV) infection in patients with liver diseases in Korea

• Won SY
• Suh DJ
• Song BC
• Lee HC
• Chung YH
• Lee YS

Abstract

BACKGROUND
TT virus (TTV), an unenveloped single-stranded DNA virus, has been reported in patients with non A-G posttransfusion hepatitis in Japan. Since it has been distributed globally afterward, it was suggested to be a possible causative agent in a proportion of cases with cryptogenic acute and chronic hepatitis. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence and clinical significance of TTV infection in Korean patients with acute and chronic liver diseases.
METHODS
TTV DNA was determined by polymerase chain reaction with semi-nested primers in sera of 94 patients with liver diseases: 38 with non-ABC liver diseases, 33 with HBV infection and 23 with HCV infection.
RESULTS
TTV DNA was detected in 7.9% of non-ABC group, 6.1% of HBV group and 13.0% of HCV group. The positive rates of TTV DNA among three groups were not different statistically. The prevalences of TTV in acute and chronic liver disease were not different. For our study, six out of eight patients with positive TTV DNA had a past history of transfusion.
CONCLUSION
Although TTV infection exists in Korea, it seems unlikely that the virus is responsible for liver diseases of unknown etiology.

Keyword

TT virus; Hepatitis; Blood transfusion; Carcinoma; Hepatocellular

MeSH Terms

Blood Transfusion
DNA
DNA, Single-Stranded
Hepatitis
Hepatitis, Chronic
Humans
Japan
Korea*
Liver Diseases*
Liver*
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Prevalence*
Torque teno virus*
DNA
DNA, Single-Stranded