New prevalence estimate of TT virus (TTV) infection in low- and high-risk population from São Paulo, Brazil

• Main Authors: BASSIT Leda, TAKEI Kioko, HOSHINO-SHIMIZU Sumie, NISHIYA Anna S., SABINO Ester C., BASSITT Rogério P., FOCACCIA Roberto, D'AMICO Élbio, CHAMONE Dalton F., RIBEIRO-DOS-SANTOS Gabriela
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo 2002-01-01
• Series: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Subjects: TT virus; Emergent viruses; Parenteral transfusion; Blood bank
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0036-46652002000400010

The prevalence of TT virus (TTV) infection was investigated by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) in low- (blood donors and healthy children/adolescents) and high-risk (hemophiliacs) groups from São Paulo, Brazil. Primers based on the untranslated region (UTR) of the viral genome proved to be much more ubiquitous, leading to much higher frequencies for both groups ( > or = 81%) than the earlier N22-PCR directed to the open reading frame 1 (blood donors, 5.5%, and hemophiliacs, 42.3%). The UTR-PCR also revealed an interesting profile for healthy children/adolescents: very high prevalence at the early years and significant decrease in male teenagers. The N22-PCR, in turn, demonstrated higher frequency in hemophiliacs treated with fresh blood products (58%), than in those treated with virus-inactivated clotting factors (9.4%) and blood donors (5.5%).