Transfusion transmitted virus in screened united Arab Emirates blood donors

ABSTRACT

To investigate the rate of infection caused by Torque teno virus [TTV] in United Arab Emirates [UAEs] healthy population as a pilot study in detecting TTV DNA in 100 healthy blood donors. We randomly choose a total of 100 healthy blood donors who attended Zayed Military Hospital, Abu Dhabi, UAE from January 20 to May 30, 2005. We carried out a real-time polymerase chain reaction [PCR] test to detect TTV DNA. Real-time for TTV was positive in 75 [75%] donors. Eight [73%] non-UAE donors were TTV positive while 67 [75%] were UAEs. Among these donors, 72 [77%] were males and 3 [50%] were females. Our results demonstrated a high prevalence of TTV in UAE