SEN virus infection in Egyptian patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis: prevalence and clinical importance

SEN virus (SENV) is assumed to be responsible for post-transfusion non-A to -E hepatitis. Phylogenetic analysis of SENV has shown 9 different strains. Two strains, SENV-H and SENV-D, were described as possible candidates for post-transfusion hepatitis. This study examined the prevalence of SENV infection and its clinical importance for patients undergoing hemodialysis.

Serum samples were obtained from 63 long-term hemodialysis patients, and examined for SENV-H and SENV-D viremia by polymerase chain reaction. Serum samples were also obtained from 20 patients with chronic kidney diseases (CKD) who were not undergoing hemodialysis and from 20 apparently healthy blood donors to act as controls. For SENV screening, a primer pair was used for the conserved ORF1 region among all SENV genotypes from A to I.

SENV infection was significantly more frequent among hemodialysis patients (33/63; 52.4%) and those with CKD (10/20; 50.0%) than among the control participants (2/20; 10.0%) [p = 0.003]. Twenty three of 33 hemodialysis patients had SENV-H or -D, 61% of whom were positive for SENV-H only, 4% were positive for SENV-D only, and 36% were positive for both SENV-H and SENV-D. SENV infection was not associated with age, sex, amount or duration of hemodialysis, or liver function test results. Elevated alanine aminotransferase was significantly associated with HCV viremia, but not with SENV infection.

Egyptian hemodialysis patients and those with CKD are at higher risk for SENV transmission. SENV-H is more prevalent than SENV-D.