title: Prevalence of Torque teno virus in healthy donors of Paraná State, southern Brazil.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of the Torque teno virus in healthy donors in the northern and northwestern regions of the state of Paraná, southern Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Torque teno virus was detected by a nested polymerase chain reaction using a set of oligoprimers for the N22 region.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of the virus was 69% in 551 healthy blood donors in southern Brazil. There was no statistically significant difference between the presence of the virus and the variables gender, ethnicity and marital status. There was significant difference in the prevalence of the virus regarding the age of the donors (p-value=0.024) with a higher incidence (74.7%) in 18- to 24-year-old donors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high prevalence of Torque teno virus was observed in the population studied. Further studies are needed to elucidate the routes of contamination and the clinical implications of the virus in the healthy population.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Maringá, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jocimara Costa
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Mazzola
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Maringá, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Patrícia Keiko
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Maringá, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Roger Haruki
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Yamakawa
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), Londrina, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Angélica Ehara
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Maringá, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Waldir Veríssimo
authors.initials: WV
authors.lastname: da Silva Junior
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Maringá, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alessandra Cristina Gobbi
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Matta
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Maringá, PR, Brazil. Electronic address: sueliborelli@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sueli Donizete
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Borelli
keywords: Anellovirus; Blood donors polymerase; Chain reaction; Torque teno virus; Virology