Abstract
BackgroundSalvador, Bahia (northeastern Brazil), has been identified as the epicenter of Human T-cell leukemia virus Human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV) type 1 infection in the country. This study aims to estimate the rate of HTLV infection and the geographical distribution of this virus in this state.MethodsAll HTLV tests (chemiluminescence/ELISA assays/Western Blotting) performed in the Central Laboratory of Public Health of Bahia (LACEN) from 2004 to 2013 were included. Data was extracted from LACEN’s database using high volume extract, transformation and load throughput. Infection rate was expressed as the number of infected individuals per 100,000 inhabitants considering municipalities grouped in microregions and/or mesoregions as the unit of analysis.ResultsA total of 233,876 individuals were evaluated. Individuals were from 394 out of 417 municipalities of Bahia (94.5%). HTLV chemiluminescence/ELISA assay was found to be reactive for 3,138 individuals from whom 2,323 had WB results (1,978 positives, 62 negative and 282 indeterminate). Out of 1978 reactive samples, 1,813 (91.7%) were positive for HTLV-1, 58 (2.9%) for HTLV-2 and 107 (5.4%) were for both HTLV-1 and HTLV-2. The cumulative mean rate of HTLV-positive cases in Bahia was 14.4 per 100,000 inhabitants. Three microregions presented rates >20 HTLV-positive cases/100,000 inhabitants: Barreiras (24.83 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), Salvador (22.90 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), and Ilhéus-Itabuna (22.60 cases per 100,000 inhabitants).ConclusionHTLV infection is disseminated in the state of Bahia, with an overall moderate rate of infection. Further studies should be conducted to characterize the epidemiological and clinical profile of HTLV-infected individuals better and to propose effective prevention measures.
Highlights
Human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV) type 1 was the first human oncogenic retrovirus to be identified in 1979 (Poiesz et al, 1980)
A total of 249,869 serologies for HTLV were performed during the studied period
The present study serves to highlight previously unreported data regarding clusters of HTLV infection throughout the state of Bahia, which is considered to be the Brazilian state with the highest HTLV infection rate
Summary
Human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV) type 1 was the first human oncogenic retrovirus to be identified in 1979 (Poiesz et al, 1980). In 1982, HTLV-2 was identified (Kalyanaraman et al, 1982). HTLV types 3 and 4 were identified only in 2005 in samples of patients from Cameroon (Calattini et al, 2005; Wolfe et al, 2005). The sexual transmission of HTLV-1 was reported as the main route in Salvador, Bahia (Nunes et al, 2017). Bahia (northeastern Brazil), has been identified as the epicenter of Human T-cell leukemia virus Human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV) type 1 infection in the country. This study aims to estimate the rate of HTLV infection and the geographical distribution of this virus in this state
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