title: TT virus in Hungary: sequence heterogeneity and mixed infections.
abstract: The majority of the viral hepatitis cases is caused by five hepatitis viruses (A,B,C,D,E). In 1997, TT virus was discovered. It was supposed that a number of the unknown hepatitis cases was caused by the TT virus. The aim of this study was to characterize TT viruses carried by healthy individuals and patients suffering from hepatitis of unknown origin in Hungary. TTV DNA was detected by seminested PCR with the commonly used N22 primers. Twenty of the 108 sera (18.5%) taken from healthy persons and 115 of the 228 sera (50.4%) of patients with hepatitis of unknown origin were found to be positive. The nucleotide sequences of 26 clones derived from 17 hepatitis patients and 15 clones from nine healthy persons were determined and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. Genotype 2 (group 1) was found to be the most frequent, but other group 1 genotypes (1, 6) and genotypes 8 and 17 of group 2 were also detected. Mixed TTV infections were found in eight cases (two healthy persons and six hepatitis patients). Variants belonging to the same group were carried in seven cases, and the presence of group 1 (genotype 2) and group 2 (genotype 8) TTV sequences were found in one single hepatitis patient.
authors.affiliation: Division of Virology, Béla Johan National Center for Epidemiology, Gyáli u. 2-6., 1097 Budapest, Hungary. takmar@freemail.hu
authors.forename: Mária
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takács
authors.forename: Katalin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Balog
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tóth
authors.forename: Zsuzsanna
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Balogh
authors.forename: Katalin N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Szomor
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brojnás
authors.forename: Erzsébet
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rusvai
authors.forename: János
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Minárovits
authors.forename: György
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Berencsi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004266:DNA Virus Infections / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D022783:Torque teno virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral