Human T-cell lymphotropic virus infection among blood donors in south Florida. The Transfusion Safety Study Group.
Knowledge of the epidemiologic pattern of human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) in the United States is being enlarged by blood donor screening. We tested stored sera from 29,937 donations made in South Florida in 1984-1985. Twenty-three donors were confirmed as seropositive, a prevalence of 0.8 per 1,000 donations. Specificity was supported by serologic retesting and virus culture of 11 donors located for follow-up. Sex- and age-specific prevalences did not differ significantly; blacks, however, accounted for 65% of seropositive donations. Within South Florida, one section of Miami had a prevalence of 4.5 per 1,000 donations, significantly above the 0.1 to 1.1 per 1,000 rates for other parts. An epidemiologic association with known HTLV-I endemic areas could account for most infections; all seven typed isolates were characterized as HTLV-I. Exposures, however, were diverse, sometimes multiple, and had no necessary relationship to personal lifestyle. This finding suggests that sources of infection were varied. Seropositive family members emphasize familial clustering of HTLV-I infection.
Parks
W P
WP
Department of Pediatrics and Medicine, University of Miami.
Lenes
B A
BA
Tomasulo
P A
PA
Schiff
E R
ER
Parks
E S
ES
Shaw
G M
GM
Lee
H
H
Yan
H Q
HQ
Lai
S
S
Hollingsworth
C G
CG
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001782:Blood Donors; D015153:Blotting, Western; D015480:Deltaretrovirus Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D006800:Deltaretrovirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D015531:Radioimmunoprecipitation Assay; D012737:Sex Factors
D015480:Deltaretrovirus Antibodies