Abstract
Cloning of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) dramatically changed the paradigm for viral discovery. An intensive effort to discover new viral agents utilizing molecular technology led to the discoveries of the GB virus and its variant, hepatitis G virus (HGV), and TT virus family that includes the SEN virus. The GB agent and hepatitis G virus (HGV) are RNA viruses in the Flaviviridae family. The TT Virus (TTV) is shown to be a small, nonenveloped single-stranded circular DNA virus in the Circoviridae family that can be transmitted to humans by both parenteral and nonparenteral routes. The SEN virus (SEN-V) was discovered using amplification strategies with highly degenerate TTV primers. Two SEN-V variants—SEN-D and SEN-C/H—have been studied extensively, and have been found as acute infections in 93% of transfusion-transmitted, non-A to E hepatitis cases. There appears to be a new, complex super-family of nonenveloped, single stranded circular DNA viruses whose clinical relevance is uncertain. There is a need to confirm intrahepatic localization and replication to define optimal primer sets and to do large, systematic controlled investigations to determine if any of these agents play an etiologic role in liver disease or disease of other organ systems.
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