title: Early acquisition of TT virus in infants: possible minor role of maternal transmission.
abstract: This study assessed the prevalence of TT virus (TTV) viremia in pregnant women and evaluated the role of maternal transmission in early acquisition of TTV in infants in Taiwan. Two groups of pregnant women were screened for TTV using polymerase chain reaction. The first group included 135 healthy pregnant women attending the obstetrics department for routine prenatal care and the second group from 25 GB virus-C/hepatitis G virus (GBV-C/HGV)-infected mothers. In both groups, when TTV infection was found in mothers, serial serum samples were collected for the infants at regular intervals until 1 year of age and were tested for TTV DNA. The results showed that 40% (54/135) of the women undergoing routine prenatal care and 56% (14/25) of GBV-C/HGV-infected pregnant women were positive for TTV DNA (P = 0.137). Of the 54 TTV-infected mothers in the routine prenatal group, 29 and their 30 infants received regular follow-up. The positive rate of TTV DNA in infants was 40% (12/30) in the routine prenatal group and 29% (4/14) in the group with GBV-C/HGV-infected mothers (P = 0.463). All but 2 of the 16 TTV-infected infants had normal serum alanine aminotransferase levels during follow-up. The phylogenetic analysis in 7 mother-infant pairs showed that the homology was diverse in each pair and a close genetic relatedness was found in 2 mother-infant pairs. In conclusion, TTV viremia is common in pregnant Taiwanese women and their infants. However, the results suggest that maternal transmission may play only a minor role in early acquisition of TTV in infants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine and the Hospital, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. hhlin@ha.mc.ntu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Ho-Hsiung
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Jia-Horng
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.forename: Ping-Ing
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ding-Shinn
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D004266:DNA Virus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D018067:Flaviviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018178:Flaviviridae Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D022783:Torque teno virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral