Mintage Journal of Pharmaceutical and Medical Sciences (ISSN: 2320-3315)

Author(s): MAZIN J. MOUSA1, BASIM A. ABD

Objective:  Autoimmune  thyroid  disease  is  a  complex  disease  with  genetic,  endogenous  and  environmental  etiologies.  This  review  examines  the  data  related  to  the  role  of viruses in the development of Hashimoto's thyroiditis.Materials  and  methods:  This  study  was  conducted  on  Hashimoto's  thyroiditis  patients,  whomdiagnosis  was  confirmed  by  testing  their  post-thyroidectomy  specimens histopathologically, along with hormonal assays for their T3, T4 and TSH. The study samples were collected randomly from different hospitals in Al-Hilla City, Babylon-Iraq; during  the period  from  August  2011  to December  2012. The  study  included 28  patients;  27 of  them  were  females  with only  one  male. Patients'  ages  ranged  from 22  to  51 years, with a mean age of 36.82±7.703 years. A blood samples were drawn from all the above mentioned patients to detect a herpes simplex virus (Type 1 and 2) (HSV 1 and 2) infections and the diagnosis was established by testing the patients' sera with a virus-specific IgM and IgG antibodies using ELISA technique.Results: This study demonstrated an abundantnegative result (92.8%) for HSV 1-specific IgG among the patients; with equal negative and positive antibody titres for HSV 1-specific  IgM.  On  the  other  hand;  the  data  concerning  HSV  2  showed  a  complete  negativity  in  IgG  specific  for  the  virus  among  the  study  patients  with  plentiful  negativity (96.4%) regarding the titre of HSV 2-specific IgM.Conclusion: The possible role of human herpes viruses in the pathogenesis of Hashimoto's thyroiditis is not supported by our study; hence our raised question stays open for more investigationon more patients and in different regions of the country, in order to develop new strategies for prevention and/or treatmen