Short Communication: Current Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Human T Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 and Human T Lymphotropic Virus Type 2 Infections Among HIV/AIDS Patients in São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

During the 1990s, high prevalences of HIV/human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and HIV/human T lymphotropic virus type 2 (HTLV-2) coinfections were detected in São Paulo, Brazil in association with intravenous drug use (IDU). The current prevalences and risk factors for HIV/HTLV-1/-2 were evaluated in 1,608 patients attending the AIDS/STD Reference and Training Center in São Paulo. Blood samples were analyzed for HTLV-1/2-specific antibodies using enzyme immunoassays (EIA Murex HTLV-I + II, Diasorin, and Gold ELISA HTLV-I + II, REM) and immunoblotting (HTLV Blot 2.4, MP Biomedicals and INNO-LIA HTLV-I/II, Innogenetics) and for the pol proviral DNA segments of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 by ''in-house'' realtime PCR. These analyses revealed that 50 (3.11%) of the samples were HTLV positive, including 25 (1.55%) that were HTLV-1 positive, 21 (1.31%) that were HTLV-2 positive, and 4 (0.25%) that were HTLV positive (untypeable). The median age of the HIV/HTLV-coinfected individuals was 50 years versus 44 years in the overall population ( p = 0.000). The risk factors associated with HIV/HTLV-1/-2 coinfections were female gender (OR 3.26, 1.78-5.95), black/pardo color (OR 2.21, 1.21-4.03), infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) (OR 4.27,) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) (OR 24.40,, and intravenous drug use (IDU) (OR 30.01,. The current low prevalence of HTLV-1/2 in HIV-infected patients in São Paulo could be explained in part by programs providing IDUs with sterile needles and syringes and changes in the drug usage patterns of individuals from injecting cocaine to smoking crack cocaine.

Seroprevalence of HTLV in a Population of Hiv1-Infected Patients in Midwestern Brazil

“…The prevalence of HTLV1 was 0.79%, six times higher than the percentage found in local blood donors (0.13%) (A G Kozlowski, unpublished data). Nevertheless, relative to other Brazilian data regarding HIV1-infected patients published between 2010 and 2015, this prevalence was lower than those reported in Piauí (1.12%) 6 , São Paulo (1.55%) 10 , Porto Alegre (1.9%) 9 and Feira de Santana, Bahia (3.74%) 17 . Differences in regional endemicity, ethnic origin of the population, risk behaviors and study designs are the possible reasons for these differences in the observed rates.…”

“…No case of HTLV2 infection was observed. Similarly, HTLV1 was also identified in the majority of HTLV/HIV1 coinfected patients in Piauí 6 , Porto Alegre 9 and Feira de Santana 17 , unlike those from São Paulo , where similar distribution of HTLV1 and HTLV2 was reported 10 . By contrast, some previous studies have demonstrated high HTLV2/HIV1 coinfection rates in Belém 18 , 19 , where HTLV2 infection is known to be endemic, as well as in Londrina 20 , Ribeirão Preto and São Paulo 21 where this coinfection was associated with IDU.…”

“…In Brazil, a South American country, few data have been reported on the prevalence of HTLV infection among HIV1-positive patients in recent years 6 - 10 , and no studies regarding HTLV/HIV coinfection in Midwestern Brazil has been published so far. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence of HTLV1/2 in a population of HIV1-infected patients in the state of Goiás .…”

HTLV 1/2 Prevalence and risk factors in individuals with HIV/AIDS in Pernambuco, Brazil

“…In Brazil, HTLV/HIV coinfection rates vary by region, and studies showed a prevalence ranging from 2.25% to 21.11% 1,3,4,5,6,7 . There are no reports of coinfection rates in Pernambuco, and a study in blood donors 8 , showed a prevalence of 0.2%.…”

“…However, the data were similar to those obtained in the state of Piauí (northeastern Brazil) 7 . This difference can be attributed to distinct regional endemicity, risk behaviors, and varied routes of HTLV exposure 4 .…”