Transplacental transmission of torque teno virus.

Background: TTV has been detected in almost every human tissue type or body fluid reaching near 100% prevalence. Several studies report mother-to-child postnatal transmission of TTV in infancy but the risk of transplacental transmission of TTV is still unclear.

Methods: The blood and plasma collected postpartum from 100 mother-child pairs were analyzed using TTV-specific qPCR. Samples were collected from the peripheral vein of the mother and the umbilical cord.

Results: Eighty four percent of pregnant women were TTV positive (median titers: 8 × 10 copies/mL; range: 10 - 3 × 10). The TTV load in plasma was approximately 100 times lower than in whole blood. TTV was not detected in any of cord blood samples.

Conclusions: Our data demonstrate the lack of transplacental transmission of TTV (or effective prenatal inhibition of viral proliferation). The presence of the virus in infants may be associated with mother-to-child transmission through breast feeding or other routes of transmission.