Prevalence of anelloviruses (TTV, TTMDV, and TTMV) in healthy blood donors and in patients infected with HBV or HCV in Qatar.
BACKGROUND
Anelloviruses (TTV, TTMV, and TTMDV) have been associated with non A-G hepatitis. The goal of the current study was to estimate the prevalence of these anelloviruses in Qatar.


METHODS
A total of 607 blood samples (500 healthy donors, and 53 HBV-and 54 HCV-positive patients) representing different nationalities were tested for the presence of TTV, TTMV, and TTMDV DNA by nested PCR.


RESULTS
Prevalence rates for the three viruses were high in all studied groups, and exceeding 95% in the HBV group (for TTV and TTMDV). Infection with more than one type of viruses was common and significant in most of the positive patients (p < 0.05) and ranging from 55.4% for TTV/TTMV and TTMV/TTMDV co-infections in the healthy group, to 96.3% for TTV/TTMV co-infections in the HBV group. Further, and as with most previous studies, no significant association was found between anelloviruses infections and age, nationality, or gender (p > 0.05) albeit the detection of higher infection rates among females and Qatari subjects.


CONCLUSION
This was the first published study to look at prevalence of Anellowviruses in the Middle East. High prevalence rates of the three viruses in all studied groups was noted. Further studies are needed to explore and compare the different genotypes of these viruses in the region.
['Al-Qahtani|Ahmed A|AA|', 'Alabsi|Enas S|ES|', 'AbuOdeh|Raed|R|', 'Thalib|Lukman|L|', 'El Zowalaty|Mohamed E|ME|', 'Nasrallah|Gheyath K|GK|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D049811:Anelloviridae D001769:Blood D001782:Blood Donors D060085:Coinfection D005260:Female D006509:Hepatitis B D006526:Hepatitis C D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D008877:Middle East D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction D015995:Prevalence D011780:Qatar D055815:Young Adult
Anelloviruses HBV HCV PCR