Transfusion-transmitted virus infection in renal transplant recipients

Abstract

The transfusion-transmitted virus (TTV) described recently was first detected in peripheral blood and liver tissue of symptomatic patients with posttransfusion hepatitis non A-G.1, 2 TTV is presumed to be an unenveloped, circular, negative stranded DNA virus containing a genome of 3852 bases. It is proposed that TTV is a member of a new virus family that infects humans, tentatively named the Circinoviridae.3

TTV infection in humans occurs worldwide, and its prevalence is regionally very different.4 It was first isolated from patients with posttransfusion hepatitis.2 Viremia may be transient or persistent, and viremic individuals are often asymptomatic. Its transmission occurs not only by blood transfusion, but also by non-parenteral infection.5 Renal transplant (RTx) recipients can be infected with TTV because of exposure to the frequent blood transfusions during hemodialysis treatments. However, not much data is available about TTV infection in renal transplant recipients.6, 7 Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of TTV and the relation to liver diseases in these populations.