Background: In 1997 a new human virus, TTV, was identified. The clinical significance of the TTV infection, however, remains unknown.
Objective: Establishment of the prevalence of TTV DNA in different population groups in Germany and the assessment of the possible clinical significance of TTV infection.
Study design: Detection of the TTV DNA by PCR in blood donors, patients with end-stage liver disease, and multiple transfused patients with haemotological disorders.
Results: TTV DNA was detected in 16 of 122 (13.1%) volunteer blood donors, in 34 of 77 (44.2%) patients with end-stage liver disease, and in 21 of 38 (55.3%) multiple transfused patients. There was no difference in the prevalence of the TTV DNA in end-stage liver disease patients with regard to sex, age, presence of HCV and HBV infection markers, and etiology of liver disease. Phylogenetic analysis of the amplified DNA fragments from 12 randomly selected TTV infected subjects demonstrated that in Germany at least two putative TTV genotypes and four subtypes are circulating.
Conclusions: (i) TTV is widely spread in German population; (ii) one of the possible ways of its transmission is blood transfusion; (iii) TTV infection most probably does not generally lead to the development of the end-stage liver disease.