The Association of Prevalence and Genotypes of Torque Teno Virus (TTV) Among Chronic Hepatitis B and C Patients in Ahvaz, 2012

Background Torque teno virus (TTV) belongs to the Circoviridae family and was separated from Japanese patients with elevated levels of serum alanine transferase for the first time. Following this, extensive studies have been carried out around the world. Objectives The present study was designed to investigate and determine the frequency of TTV genotypes in patients with chronic hepatitis B and C in Ahvaz city in 2012. Patients and Methods Samples from 30 patients with chronic hepatitis C and 30 patients with chronic hepatitis B were studied and compared with 30 healthy subjects as controls. TT virus DNA was investigated using semi-nested PCR. The basic primers used were 5’ UTR. Results Out of the 90 specimens tested, nine samples (10%) were TTV-DNA positive. Of the hepatitis C samples, four samples (13.3%) were positive. Of the hepatitis B samples, two (6.67%) were positive and 3 (10%) of the control group samples were positive. Both tth4 and tth31 isolates were separated. Conclusions TTV is a DNA virus, but its genetic diversity is increasing. The PCR methods used were not efficient enough and were not able to identify the types of TTV in blood. The frequency obtained from our study is inconsistent with some countries but is consistent with a study conducted in India. In general, a relationship between sex and age and the prevalence of TTV was not found, and this result is the same as most other studies