Aim: In the presence of this study, prevalance of transfusion transmitted virus (TTV) was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in patients with chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection.

Materials and method: Forty five chronic hepatitis B and 35 chronic hepatitis C patients included this study. Fifty healthy person were also analysed as a control group. The samples were subjected to proteinase K digestion and phenol-cloroform extraction. Then, semi-nested PCR was performed with TTV spesific primers. The PCR products were run on 2% agarose gel.

Results: TTV DNA was present in 9 of 45 (20%) patients with chronic hepatitis B infection, whereas TTV DNA was detected in 11 of 35 (31,4%) patients with chronic hepatitis C infection. 5 (10 %) healthy person was also infected with TTV.

Conclusion: Our results indicated that TTV DNA was detected more frequently in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection than in patients with chronic hepatitis B infection. Interestingly, TTV prevalance was high in healthy person group.