Prevalence and genetic characterisation of HTLV-1 and 2 dual infections in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in Central-West Brazil

Aline Garcia Kozlowski,Koko Otsuki,João Alves Araújo Filho,Regina Maria Bringel Martins,Ana Carolina Paulo Vicente,Sheila Araújo Teles,Márcia Alves Dias de Matos,Megmar Aparecida dos Santos Carneiro

doi:10.1590/0074-0276130230

Aline Garcia Kozlowski, Koko Otsuki + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0074-0276130230

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Abstract

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) may impact the clinical course of tuberculosis (TB). Both infections are highly endemic in Brazil. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of HTLV-1/2 in TB patients in Central-West Brazil and to perform a genetic characterisation of the respective isolates. Of the 402 patients, six (1.49%) were positive for anti-HTLV and five (1.24%; 95% confidence interval: 0.46-3.05) were infected with HTLV-1/2. Genetic characterisation demonstrated that the four HTLV-1 isolates belonged to the Transcontinental subgroup A of the Cosmopolitan subtype a and that the HTLV-2 isolate belonged to subtype a (HTLV-2a/c). The prevalence of HTLV infection observed in this study is higher than that observed in local blood donors and the HTLV-1 and 2 subtypes identified are consistent with those circulating in Brazil.

Highlights

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the aetiological agent of a number of major diseases, such as adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma, HTLV-1associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis and other inflammatory diseases
A few studies conducted in the Northeast Region of Brazil have reported high prevalence rates of HTLV-1 among TB patients in the city of Salvador, state of Bahia (Moreira et al 1993, Pedral-Sampaio et al 1997, Marinho et al 2005, Bastos et al 2009)
There is a lack of data on HTLV prevalence among TB patients in other Brazilian regions and HTLV isolates have not been characterised in these patients

Summary

Introduction

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the aetiological agent of a number of major diseases, such as adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma, HTLV-1associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis and other inflammatory diseases. Three genetic subtypes (a, b and d) of HTLV-2 have been reported based on the nucleotide diversity of their respective LTR regions (Roucoux & Murphy 2004).

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