Abstract
BackgroundStudies have shown that the human T-lymphotropic virus 2 (HTLV-2) is endemic in several indigenous populations of the Brazilian Amazon and molecular analyses have shown the exclusive presence of HTLV-2 subtype 2c among the indigenous groups of this geographical region.MethodsThe present study characterizes the prevalence of HTLV-2 infection in three new villages of the Xikrin tribe, in the Kayapo group, according to their distribution by sex and age. The study included 263 samples from individuals from the Kateté, Djujeko and Oodjã villages. Plasma samples were tested for the presence of anti-HTLV-1/2 antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Seropositive samples were confirmed using real-time PCR, nested PCR and sequencing.ResultsThe serological and molecular results confirmed the sole presence of HTLV-2 in 77 (29%) samples, with a prevalence of 38% among women and 18% among men. In these communities, it was found that the prevalence of HTLV-2 infection increased with age. Nucleotide sequences (642 bp, 5’LTR) from eight samples were subjected to phylogenetic analysis by the neighbor-joining method to determine the viral subtype, which confirmed the presence of HTLV-2c.ConclusionsThe results of the present study establish the presence of HTLV-2 infection in three new villages of the Xikrin tribe and confirm the high endemicity of the infection in the Kayapo indigenous group of the Brazilian Amazon.
Highlights
MethodsThe present study characterizes the prevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus 2 (HTLV-2) infection in three new villages of the Xikrin tribe, in the Kayapo group, according to their distribution by sex and age
Studies have shown that the human T-lymphotropic virus 2 (HTLV-2) is endemic in several indigenous populations of the Brazilian Amazon and molecular analyses have shown the exclusive presence of HTLV-2 subtype 2c among the indigenous groups of this geographical region
Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1) and HTLV-2 are believed to have been disseminated along human migratory pathways from Africa to Europe, Asia and the Americas, and they are currently distributed worldwide [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
Summary
The present study characterizes the prevalence of HTLV-2 infection in three new villages of the Xikrin tribe, in the Kayapo group, according to their distribution by sex and age. The study included 263 samples from individuals from the Kateté, Djujeko and Oodjã villages. Study population and sample collection Blood samples (n = 263) were collected from individuals living in the Kateté (n = 121), Djujeko (n = 113) and Oodjã (n = 29) villages of the Xikrin tribe, Kayapo group, Jé linguistic family, who live in the Cateté Indigenous Territory, bordered by the Itacaiúnas and Cateté rivers, in the municipality of Parauapebas, state of Pará (Fig. 1). The study included individuals of both sexes aged 2–99 years old, from whom 10 mL of peripheral blood were collected in vacuum tubes containing ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) as anticoagulant for the separation of plasma and leukocytes. The samples were frozen at − 20 °C until subsequent analysis
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