Dermatological manifestations in patients with human T‐cell lymphotropic virus at a reference service in Amazon

Abstract

Introduction Individuals infected with the human T‐cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV‐1) commonly present skin lesions, which may be a warning sign for the diagnosis of infection. This study describes the most prevalent skin manifestations in HTLV carriers attended at the clinic of Núcleo de Medicina Tropical (NMT) of the Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA) in Belém, Pará, Brazil. Methods This is a study of a series of cases of patients infected with human T‐cell lymphotropic virus types 1 and 2 (HTLV‐1/2) treated at NMT UFPA between 1999 and 2016. A descriptive analysis of data was applied. Results Among 788 surveyed medical records in the service, 15.10% (n = 119) were referred to the dermatology clinic. From the series of cases that presented with skin lesions, 66.39% were female and 33.61% were male, and the average age of this group was 48 years. There was a predominance of patients with noninfectious inflammatory manifestations (64.2%), followed by infectious ones (24.6%), and 1.58% with lymphoproliferative diseases. As for the group of lesions, 45.26% of the erythematous‐squamous type were observed, followed by dyschromia (24.21%), and eczematous (14.74%). One patient with a diagnosis of adult T‐cell leukemia/lymphoma, another with parapsoriasis, and four with infective dermatitis are highlighted. Conclusion Skin disorders in the HLTV positive patient are important causes of referral to the dermatologist with etiological and skin lesions groups diversity. In the series of cases studied, lymphoproliferatives diseases and infective dermatitis associated with HTLV‐1 were presented as a challenge for the diagnosis and clinical management of these patients.