High Prevalence of SEN Virus Infection in Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis: Frequent Mixed Infections with Different Variants and Evidence for Nosocomial Transmission of the Virus

Abstract

Objective: The SEN virus (SENV) represents a recently described group of DNA viruses, two members of which (SENV-D and SENV-H) are linked with posttransfusion hepatitis. Since patients on hemodialysis have a high risk of being infected by blood-borne viruses, we investigated the prevalence of seven SENV isolates in two distinct units of our hospital. Methods: The presence of SENV was investigated in 171 hemodialysis patients and in 163 controls by using a polymerase chain reaction based methodology, with which the specificity of amplified products was detected by hybridization with probes specific for each variant. Polymerase chain reaction products from 4 patients were sequenced. Results: The overall detection of SENV DNA as well as of SENV-D, SENV-E, and SENV-G was significantly higher in one of the two units, and there was a higher degree of homology in the sequences prepared from patients of the same unit. Furthermore, we demonstrated that mixed infections with multiple SENV were common. No relationship was observed between presence of SENV and sex, age, duration of hemodialysis, previous transfusions or transplantation, hepatitis infection, and routine liver test results. Conclusion: Our results indicate that patients who undergo hemodialysis can be at high risk of SENV transmission and suggest an intraunit transmission of specific SENV variants.

Prevalence and Effect of Sen Virus in Hemodialysis Patients in Zagazig University Nephrology Unit.

“…In our study, SENV failed to induce hepatitis in the only SENV-positive patient with negative sera for both anti-HCV and HBsAg and it did not cause any significant difference in LFT, compared to SENV-negative patients with negative sera for both anti-HCV and HBsAg, there was no significant statistical difference between the SENV-positive and -negative patients in relation to liver size in long axis, regardless to positivity or negativity of anti-HCV, so liver ultrasound images did not seem to show any big difference between SENV-negative and SENV-positive patients, in accordance with Pirovano et al, (2005). 15 In our study, platelet count in the patient who is SENV-positive with negative sera for both anti-HCV and HBsAg is a little bit higher than the mean of the platelet counts for the 43 patients who are SENV-negative with negative sera for both anti-HCV and HBsAg "uninfected" , but this was not statistically significant. Moreover, there was no significant statistical difference between the mean WBCs count in patients who are SENV-positive with positive sera for anti-HCV and that for the 43 patients who are SENV-negative with positive sera for anti-HCV.…”