Torque Teno Virus (TTV) as a Risk Factor in Hemodialysis Process in Kirkuk Wahid Nuha M.1, Saadoon Israa H.2 1Medical Laboratory, Kirkuk Health Directorate, Kirkuk, Iraq 2Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Tikrit University, Tikrit, Iraq Online published on 27 November, 2019. Abstract Patients undergoing hemodialysis are at increased risk of infection with blood-borne viruses, especially hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Torque teno virus (TTV). The present study investigated these issues and the possibility of nosocomial transmission among patients undergoing hemodialysis. A cross sectional study was carried out on80 patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing hemodialysis (HD) and 20 blood donors as control who admitted to blood bank for blood donationwere enrolled in this study in Kirkuk provincefrom 15th of August 2018 to 15th of February 2019. Result The prevalence of TTV DNA was detected in those TTV Ag seropositive and some seronegative dialysis patients, genetic analysis was done using the primers from N22 region of TTV. The study showed that 15% of HD patients had TTV DNA. The study showed that the highest rate of TTV infection (30%) was found in patients under dialysis for more than 3 years. On the other hand, the study displayed that the highest rates of TTV infections were recorded in HD patients who previously received blood for more than 6 time (58.33%). The current study revealed that there was no significant association between TTV infection and level of ALT and ASTin HD patients. Top Keywords HD, TTV, CKD, ESRD, HCC. Top |