Human T-cell lymphotropic virus types I and II (HTLV-I and -II) infection among seroindeterminate cases in Argentina

✍ Scribed by Carolina A. Berini; Maria E. Eirin; Maria A. Pando; Mirna M. Biglione

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 97 KB
• Volume: 79
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.20731

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Human T‐cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) seroindeterminate cases have been reported among blood donors (BD) and in at‐risk populations worldwide, including Argentina. The objective of the present work was to study the presence of HTLV‐I/II infection and its association to specific Western blot (WB) patterns among healthy BD and at‐risk populations in Argentina. We analyzed 83 HTLV‐I/II seroindeterminate WB cases diagnosed among BD (n = 49) and in different at‐risk populations (n = 34) for human retroviruses infections. Multiple indeterminate WB patterns were observed. Out of the total, 13.2% (11/83) of the cases were found to be HTLV‐I/II positive by nested‐PCR (n‐PCR), including 13.2% (11/83) HTLV‐I and 2.4% (2/83) presenting HTLV‐I and ‐II co‐infection. Most of their serological profiles showed reactivity to gag or env codified proteins. Two samples amplified only one of the six analyzed genes (1 HTLV‐I pol gene and 1 HTLV‐II tax gene). There was no association between the presence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection and an HTLV‐I/II indeterminate WB pattern (only 3 of the 83 samples were positive for T. cruzi antibodies). In conclusion, the majority of HTLV‐seroindeterminate WB donors lacked HTLV provirus and was thus considered uninfected. However, when seroreactivity to Env and Gag proteins are observed on the WB and especially in at‐risk populations, HTLV infection should be suspected; such individuals should be followed‐up and retested. J. Med. Virol. 79:69–73, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.