Abstract

 Background and Objectives

 Blood transfusion has a critical role in clinical practice, but there has always been a possibility for transmission of infections. A lot of research have been conducted recently to find the cause of these infections. In 1997, TTV was first found by Nishizawa. Our aim was to estimate the prevalence rate of TTV in healthy blood donors and recipients of blood components in Tehran and prepare PCR kits to detect this virus.

 Materials and Methods

  In this research, we studied the prevalence rate of TTV in 250 thalassemic, hemophilic and dialysis patients and 250 blood donors. After extraction of DNA and amplification by semi-nested polymerase chain reaction, the bonds of DNA were observed in electrophoresis with 2% gel agarose.

 Results

 250 patients were studied 66.9% of whom were positive and 33.1% negative for TTV. TTV-PCR results were also studied in 250 blood donors 41% of whom were positive and 59% negative. There was a significant difference (p=0.0001) between patients and the control group.

 Conclusions

 TTV has a high prevalence in recipients and blood donors. Blood transfusion probably is not the only way for transmission of TTV, and other ways such as oral-fecal route can also play a role for transmission of TTV.

 Key words : TTV, Blood donor, Blood recipient