The prevalence of human T-cell leukemia virus type I infection in patients with hematologic and nonhematologic diseases in an adult T-cell leukemia-endemic area of Japan

Abstract

In order to clarify the prevalence of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) infection in the Kagoshima district, Japan, a highly endemic area for HTLV-I, antibodies for HTLV-I (anti-HTLV-I) were examined in the sera of 6167 from healthy residents and patients with various hematologic and nonhematologic diseases. In healthy residents, including blood donors, the prevalence of anti-HTLV-I was 11.9% (562/4741 persons). The prevalence increased with age, and was significantly higher in in females than in males (P less than 0.01). The prevalence of anti-HTLV-I in blood donors was 8.5%. In In hematologic diseases, the prevalence of anti-HTLV-I was 98.3% in ATL, 28.9% in lymphoproliferative disorders except ATL, and 10.6% in myeloproliferative disorders. In nonhematologic diseases, the prevalence of anti-HTLV-I was shown to be 29.5% in pulmonary tuberculosis, 25.8% in leprosy, 33.8% in chronic renal failure (CRF), 21.9% in autoimmune diseases, and 47.8% in strongyloidiasis. The various diseases except myeloproliferative disorders had significantly higher prevalence of anti-HTLV-I than healthy residents (P less than 0.01 or 0.05). For autoimmune diseases, the prevalence of anti-HTLV-I in patients with blood transfusion (55.6%) was higher than in those without blood transfusion (8.7%), and healthy residents. In hemodialysis patients with CRF who had received blood transfusions the prevalence of anti-HTLV-I increased with the number of blood transfusions. Therefore, HTLV-I transmission via blood transfusion would partially explain these high prevalence of anti-HTLV-I. However, the prevalence of anti-HTLV-I in hemodialysis patients with CRF was statistically higher than that in healthy residents, regardless of blood transfusion (P less than 0.01). Furthermore, hemodialysis patients showed significantly higher prevalence of anti-HTLV-I than healthy residents, even at a younger age. Patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and leprosy showed the same results as hemodialysis patients. These results suggest that possibility that HTLV-I infection has some relation not only to ATL but also to other diseases. Therefore, it seems very important to halt the spread of HTLV-I transmission as soon as possible.

The role of human T cell lymphotrophic virus type 1, hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus coinfections in leprosy

“…Outside Africa, Hanada et al (1989) documented HTLV-1 coinfection in 25.8% of 525 LPs living in a highly endemic area in Japan for HTLV-1 whereas the seroprevalence of HTLV-1 in healthy controls was 11.9%. Hideroni et al (1998) showed that leprosy subjects from two sanatoria in Japan had a higher HTLV-1 prevalence than the general Japanese population from the same regions.…”

Clinicopathological features of cryptococcal lymphadenitis and a review of literature

“…Strongyloidiasis, tuberculosis, and leprosy are well-recognized infection complications of chronic HTLV-1 infection (HTLV-1 carriers); 19 they are associated with the immunodeficiency caused by chronic HTLV-1 infection. 20 On the other hand, to our best knowledge, the present report is the first report of cryptococcal lymphadenitis in an HTLV-1 carrier.…”

HTLV-1 associated myelopathy diagnosed during lepromatous leprosy reaction treatment: a case report

“…The association of leprosy and HTLV-1 infection has been observed in Japan and África 7,8 . Decreased survival among coinfected individuals was previously observed, without correlation with the clinical subtype of leprosy, which was attributed to other infectious diseases 9 .…”