Clearance of TT virus after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

A 10-year-old girl with thalassemia underwent bone marrow transplantation. Before transplantation, she had persistent TT virus (TTV) DNAemia for at le ast 18 months. Interestingly, the viral DNAemia was cleared soon after tran splant and remained undetectable at the latest follow-up at 28 months. The early clearance of TTV that had occurred before engraftment or initiation o f any antiviral therapy, together with the absence of TTV DNA from the resu lts of the liver biopsy performed before transplantation, led us to hypothe size that the hematologic compartment could have been the site for viral pe rsistence. Thus, the conditioning regimen may have depleted the hemic cells and the hematologically compartmentalized TTV. The potential of hemic trop ism of TTV and its role in hematologic diseases need to be considered.