The prevalence of sen virus among hemodialysis patients

SUMMARYAim: SEN virus (SENV) was thought to be responsible for unknown etiologies of non-A?E hepatitis and transmitted by blood transfusions. Phylogenetic analysis of SENV has shown nine different strains (A-I). SEN virus genotype D (SENV-D) and SEN virus genotype H (SENV-H) is indicated to be related to the development of hepatitis after blood transfusion. In our study, SENV incidence and possible risk factors for SENV transmission was investigated in hemodialysis patients who were at high risk group for parenteral transmission.Methods: 100 hemodialysis patients (70 males, 30 females) and 100 healthy blood donors (70 males, 30 females) who are not in risk group for parenteral transmission as a control group were involved in to the study in Manisa region. Samples were studied for presence of SENV-D and SENV-H by real time polymerase chain reaction.Results: SENV-D viremia among hemodialysis patients (28%) was more significant according to the control group (12%) (p=0.038). There was no difference in SENV-H viremia between hemodialysis patients (53%) and control group (58%) (p=0.760). No significant difference was found in SENV-D + H co-infection between hemodialysis patients (20%) and control group (9%) (p=0.080). There was no significant correlation between duration of hemodialysis with SENV viremia (p=0.541). SENV viremia was higher in males (65.7%) than females (50%) (p=0.037).Conclusions: SENV-D is more prevalent in hemodialysis patients than healthy blood donors The high frequency of SENV-D infection among hemodialysis patients emphasized the importance of parenteral route in transmission. Because of high SENV-H prevalence in both study groups, other transmission routes in the distribution of SENV-H might be considered.Key Words: SENV, SENV-D, SENV-H, Hemodialysis