Menally-Ill
02-20-2003, 03:06 PM
So, what is this new "TT VIRUS" that is in the blood supply? Is it a hepatitis virus???
In short, no one seems to know, and no one is talking about it. But it is circulating...
TTV was first isolated in 1997, in Japan, by a Dr. T. Nishizawa. It is a single-strand circular virus, that is transmitted by blood transfusion. It causes symptoms of hepatitis (inflamed liver, jaundiced yellow skin and eyes etc.) At first it was thought to be a new kind of Hepatitis, or a mutation of one of the hepatitis viruses, but studies have ruled those possibilities out.
It appears to be an entirely new virus, one so new they aren't even sure what exactly it's long-term prognosis is, for anyone who tests positive for it.
(Those of us who went through the AIDS and Hepatitis C tainted blood scandals, remember most clearly when AIDS was a new virus, and Hep C was called "nonA-nonB Hepatitis" and these viruses didn't cause harm sometimes until 5 or 10 years after infection.)
*********************
From FoxNews- 6-2-99:
"Nearly 7 % of blood donors in Northern California who were randomly tested, have been found to be positive for a new type of virus, known as the TT Virus, researchers say.
It was first identified in Japan in 1997, when researchers there, found it in 3 out of every 5 patients who developed hepatitis symptoms after blood transfusions.
Bernie R. Betlach and colleagues at the Sacramento Medical Foundation Centre tested a total of 194 samples from volunteer donors, over a 13 county area of Northern California. Researchers found 119 of them to be healthy, and 75 of them had elevated blood levels of liver enzymes.
"6.7% of them tested positive for the TT Virus" Betlach told Reuters Health in a telephone interview. All the samples were negative for other viruses routinely checked during blood donations.
The study's findings were scheduled to be presented on Monday at the American Society for Microbiology meeting in Chicago.
************************
(Some "Teckie stuff" about it, from various science journals and the CDC in Atlanta.)
*It is present in patients with fulminant hepatitis and chronic liver illness.
*It is an unenveloped, single strand DNA virus, with 3739 nucleotides.
*There are two sub-groups of it, with different genetic characteristics, with differences in 30% of the nucleotide sequences.
*TTV has been found in 47% of patients with fulminant hepatitis, in which all the A,B,C,D,E,F, and G, strains of hepatitis have been ruled out.
*30% of people who test postitive for it, have genotype 1, and 60% have genotype 2.
*It's highest prevalence so far, is in Japan and the United Kingdom.
*Studies have shown it appears in up to 83% of the hemophilia population, and 71% of the Hepatitis C population.
*There is evidence that it is transmitted enterally (oral, fecal) and from mother to child.
*It has characteristics typical of some animal circoviruses, especially "chicken anemia virus".
*Taiwan has a high number of apparently healthy people in the general population, who have the virus present in their blood.
*The pathogenesis of the TT Virus remains to be established, and research needs to be conducted into it's potential virulence.
In short, no one seems to know, and no one is talking about it. But it is circulating...
TTV was first isolated in 1997, in Japan, by a Dr. T. Nishizawa. It is a single-strand circular virus, that is transmitted by blood transfusion. It causes symptoms of hepatitis (inflamed liver, jaundiced yellow skin and eyes etc.) At first it was thought to be a new kind of Hepatitis, or a mutation of one of the hepatitis viruses, but studies have ruled those possibilities out.
It appears to be an entirely new virus, one so new they aren't even sure what exactly it's long-term prognosis is, for anyone who tests positive for it.
(Those of us who went through the AIDS and Hepatitis C tainted blood scandals, remember most clearly when AIDS was a new virus, and Hep C was called "nonA-nonB Hepatitis" and these viruses didn't cause harm sometimes until 5 or 10 years after infection.)
*********************
From FoxNews- 6-2-99:
"Nearly 7 % of blood donors in Northern California who were randomly tested, have been found to be positive for a new type of virus, known as the TT Virus, researchers say.
It was first identified in Japan in 1997, when researchers there, found it in 3 out of every 5 patients who developed hepatitis symptoms after blood transfusions.
Bernie R. Betlach and colleagues at the Sacramento Medical Foundation Centre tested a total of 194 samples from volunteer donors, over a 13 county area of Northern California. Researchers found 119 of them to be healthy, and 75 of them had elevated blood levels of liver enzymes.
"6.7% of them tested positive for the TT Virus" Betlach told Reuters Health in a telephone interview. All the samples were negative for other viruses routinely checked during blood donations.
The study's findings were scheduled to be presented on Monday at the American Society for Microbiology meeting in Chicago.
************************
(Some "Teckie stuff" about it, from various science journals and the CDC in Atlanta.)
*It is present in patients with fulminant hepatitis and chronic liver illness.
*It is an unenveloped, single strand DNA virus, with 3739 nucleotides.
*There are two sub-groups of it, with different genetic characteristics, with differences in 30% of the nucleotide sequences.
*TTV has been found in 47% of patients with fulminant hepatitis, in which all the A,B,C,D,E,F, and G, strains of hepatitis have been ruled out.
*30% of people who test postitive for it, have genotype 1, and 60% have genotype 2.
*It's highest prevalence so far, is in Japan and the United Kingdom.
*Studies have shown it appears in up to 83% of the hemophilia population, and 71% of the Hepatitis C population.
*There is evidence that it is transmitted enterally (oral, fecal) and from mother to child.
*It has characteristics typical of some animal circoviruses, especially "chicken anemia virus".
*Taiwan has a high number of apparently healthy people in the general population, who have the virus present in their blood.
*The pathogenesis of the TT Virus remains to be established, and research needs to be conducted into it's potential virulence.