Prevalence of TT virus in patients with fulminant hepatic failure in Japan (original) (raw)

Abstract:

A novel virus (TT virus) was isolated from patients with posttransfusion hepatitis of unknown etiology. We studied the prevalence of TT virus in 26 patients with fulminant hepatic failure without risk factors, including blood transfusion, and also examined 106 healthy blood donors as controls. We assayed serum TT virus DNA by seminested polymerase chain reactions and also examined the genotypes of this virus. Serum was obtained at admission from patients with fulminant hepatic failure. Serum samples at admission from seven (27%) of the 26 patients were positive for TT virus DNA. There were no differences in clinical findings, duration from onset to coma, or results of laboratory tests in patients with and without TT virus DNA. However, all 7 patients with TT virus died, whereas 9 of the 19 patients without TT virus died. The outcome for patients with fulminant hepatic failure and TT virus was significantly worse than for patients without the virus (P = 0.0227). TT virus was also detected in 29 (27%) of the 106 healthy blood donors. The genotype of the TT virus was mainly 1a in both groups. There were no differences in the rate of positivity and the genotypes of TT virus between patients with fulminant hepatic failure and healthy blood donors. TT virus infection may not cause severe hepatitis, such as fulminant hepatic failure, but it may indicate a poor outcome in such patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Second Department of Biochemistry, Osaka City University Medical School, Osaka, Japan, , , , , , JP
    Motoharu Tanaka & Shuzo Otani
  2. Third Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka City University Medical School, 1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-8585, Japan, , , , , , JP
    Shuhei Nishiguchi, Tadashi Takeda, Susumu Shiomi & Tetsuo Kuroki
  3. Department of Public Health, Osaka City University Medical School, Osaka, Japan, , , , , , JP
    Takashi Tanaka & Masaru Enomoto

Authors

  1. Motoharu Tanaka
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  2. Shuhei Nishiguchi
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  3. Takashi Tanaka
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  4. Masaru Enomoto
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  5. Tadashi Takeda
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  6. Susumu Shiomi
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  7. Tetsuo Kuroki
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  8. Shuzo Otani
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Received: September 14, 1998 / Accepted: May 28, 1999

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Tanaka, M., Nishiguchi, S., Tanaka, T. et al. Prevalence of TT virus in patients with fulminant hepatic failure in Japan.J Gastroenterol 34, 589–593 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s005350050377

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