title: Transfusion-transmitted virus prevalence in Turkish patients with thalassemia.
abstract: In hematology patients on chronic transfusion regimes, liver diseases are frequent, and mostly related to the agents transmitted by blood products and concominant iron deposition in liver. Besides hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) viruses, new viral agents like hepatitis G virus (HGV) and TorqueTeno virus (TTV) are identified in these patients, although their association with any pathology or disease is not yet proved. In the present work, the authors studied the clinical importance of TTV in Turkish multitransfused patients with thalassemia. Forty-six healthy and 57 thalassemic patients were enrolled in the study. TTV was detected in serum samples by 3'-UTR nested PCR. Transaminase and ferritin levels, hepatitis B and C virus markers and number of transfusions were interpreted for possible association with TTV infection. As a result, TTV was detected in 63% of the thalassemia and 54% of the control patients. Prevalence of TTV infection, clinical features, laboratory data, and annual transfusion numbers of TTV-positive and -negative patients were not observed to be statistically significant. In conclusion, in Turkish patients with thalassemia, TTV infection cannot be considered as a risk factor for liver disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Section of Hematology, Hacettepe University, Medical School, Ankara, Turkey. heozyurek@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Emel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ozyürek
authors.forename: Koray
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ergünay
authors.forename: Baris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kuskonmaz
authors.forename: Selma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Unal
authors.forename: Mualla
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cetin
authors.forename: Semsettin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ustaçelebi
authors.forename: Aytemiz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gürgey
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gümrük
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D022783:Torque teno virus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D065227:Transfusion Reaction; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000635:transmission*; D014780:Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification*