Mother-to-infant vertical transmission of transfusion transmitted virus in South China.

A nested PCR was used to detect TTV DNA in serum from 490 mother-infant pairs to determine the rate of vertical transmission of TTV in Guangzhou City, P.R. China. TTV DNA was positive in 87 mothers and 12 of their babies, giving a prevalence of 17.8% in pregnant women and a mother-to-child transmission rate of 13.8%. In eight mother-infant pairs, TTV DNA nucleotide sequences from the mothers and their corresponding infants were identical. The homology of Guangzhou TTV and Japanese TTV ranged from 85.3%-98.2% at nucleotide level. TTV infection is common in pregnant women in South China and vertical transmission can occur. Guangzhou's and Japanese TTV isolates belong to the same genotype.