Seroprevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus HTLV and its associated factors in donors of a blood bank of Medellín-Colombia, 2014-2018

Abstract

Background Research on HTLV in Colombia is limited; despite being an endemic country there are few studies on the magnitude of this infection. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of HTLV I/II and its associated factors in donors to a blood bank of Medellín Colombia, 2014–2018. Methods This is a cross-sectional study of 52,159 donors with a secondary information source. Seroprevalence of HTLV I/II was determined with its confidence interval and the population characteristics were described by frequency and summary measures. To explore the associated factors, Pearson’s Chi square test, Mann-Whitney U test, crude odds ratios were used and they were adjusted by logistic regression in SPSS 25.0. Results 88% of the population lived in the metropolitan area, 68.5% belonged to the University. 76.2% were altruistic donors (unpaid donors who did not donate to a specific patient). 24.5% were repetitive (paid) donors. 75% of the donors were under 41 years old. The seroprevalence of HTLV I/II was 0.176% (95% CI = 0.139% -0.213%), being statistically lower in repetitive donors and men. Conclusion The seroprevalence of HTLV I/II infection in the studied blood bank is lower than that reported in other blood banks at the departmental and national levels. In Medellín, it was associated with the frequency of donation and gender, which is useful information for the hemovigilance programs of the city.

Lymphotropic Viruses EBV, KSHV and HTLV in Latin America: Epidemiology and Associated Malignancies. A Literature-Based Study by the RIAL-CYTED

“…A study that included all Colombian departments found an overall seropositivity of 0.3%, with most departments below 1% and Chocó being the only exception with 6.28% [239]. Similar studies from several blood banks from Medellin observed 0.06-0.176% positivity, mainly for HTLV-1 [243,244]. We also found two studies conducted on blood donors from Peru, Arequipa (0.9% HTLV-1 positive) and Abancay (3.4%, unknown subtype), and one in pregnant women from Lima (1.7% HTLV-1 positive) [253,254,256].…”

Seroprevalence and Trends of HTLV-1/2 among Blood Donors of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2012-2017

“…In Peru, very few studies on HTLV-1 have been done in blood donors, showing a prevalence of around 0.9% [23]. Colombia shows a seroprevalence of HTLV-1/2 in the population of blood donors in Cali and Medellín of 0.24% and 0.176%-0.06%, respectively [24][25][26]. Also, a retrospective study analyzing screening and positivity for HTLV-1 and 2 data collected from 2001 to 2014 by Colombian blood banks, showed a cumulative reactivity of 0.30% [27].…”

Metaanálisis de la validez del inmunodiagnóstico del virus linfotrópico de células T humanas I/II en bancos de sangre, 2000-2018

“…En adición a lo anterior, investigaciones recientes se han ocupado de la morbilidad por htlv mediante el uso de diferentes pruebas; así, en la actualización de Iwanaga se incluyen estudios que emplearon aglutinación de partículas e inmunofluorescencia [26]; en el análisis que hacen de Cardona et al se estimó la ocurrencia de la infección mediante quimioluminiscencia y confirmación con Western blot (bandas rgp 46-i, GD21, p19, p24, p26, p28, p32, p36, p53) [27]; el grupo de Yousefi utilizó elisa [28] y Zhao et al se sirvieron de quimioluminiscencia y elisa [29], demostrando la alta diversidad de metodologías para la detección del virus.…”