Detection of SENV Virus in Healthy, Hepatitis B- and Hepatitis C-Infected Individuals in Yazd Province, Iran

BACKGROUND SEN virus (SENV) is the latest virus proposed as a cause of unknown hepatitis cases. Among nine detected genotypes of the virus, genotypes D and H are more frequent in hepatitis cases of unknown origin. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of SENV-D and SENV-H genotypes in the sera of healthy individuals and hepatitis B and C patients. METHODS Totally, 200 serum samples from healthy individuals as well as 50 hepatitis B and 50 hepatitis C patients were collected. Anti-HCV (hepatitis C virus), anti-human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B surface antigen and anti-HBV (hepatitis B virus) core antigen were detected, and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were measured. Viral DNA was subjected to nested PCR. Fisher's exact and unpaired ANOVA tests were used for statistical analyses. RESULTS SENV was detected in 90%, 66%, and 46% of the healthy individuals HBV and HCV-positive individuals, respectively. The frequency of SENV and its two genotypes were significantly lower in hepatitis B and hepatitis C patients (P<0.01). Also, the frequency of SENV-H was higher than SENV-D in all studied groups. In SENV-positive HBV patients, the level of ALT and AST enzymes were significantly less than SENV-negative patients (P<0.05). It was the same for SENV-H-negative and -positive cases. CONCLUSIONS The levels of liver enzymes were significantly lower in HBV patients co-infected with SENV compared to HBV patients (P<0.05), indicating a positive impact of the virus in liver pathology by decreasing liver damage and thus decreasing the liver enzymes.