<i>TORQUE TENO VIRUS</i>: PREVALENCE AND FEATURES OF PCR ANALYSIS
Objective: to study features of PCR analysis of TTV ( Torque teno virus ) viruses and their prevalence in patients with chronic liver diseases and in relatively healthy individuals. Material and methods. To conduct the research, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), electrophoretic detection, and statistical method were applied. 212 patients with chronic liver diseases and 125 relatively healthy individuals were examined. Results. TTV, TTMV and TTMDV DNAs in the main and control groups were detected. The data of absolute values, relative frequencies (confidence interval - 95% CI) of DNA detection of TTV, TTMDV, TTMV viruses and their various combinations in the control and main groups of patients are given. Conclusion. The work shows the predominance of mixed infections: TTV, TTMDV and TTMV DNAs were detected in 67 % and 72 % patients of the main and control groups, respectively. The combination of TTV + TTMV viruses was detected in 15.6 % patients of the main and in 12 % patients of the control group. Other combinations, as well as mono-infection of TTMDV and TTMV, were considerably less common and were only single instances. The absence of TTV, TTMV, TTMDV or their combinations in human organism is rare, the frequency of DNA detection of at least one of these viruses in the main and control groups is 95.3% and 89.6%, respectively, with no statistically significant difference.