Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of human T-lymphotropic virus type-I.
Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I), an etiologic human retrovirus of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), causes approximately 60 new cases of ATLL each year in Nagasaki Prefecture; essentially all cases are fatal, and they account for approximately 0.5% of total deaths in the area. The estimated life risk for an HTLV-I carrier to develop ATLL is approximately 5%. The major transmission pathway of HTLV-I peculiarly endemic in the Nagasaki Prefecture was studied. The prevalence of HTLV-I infection in children of carrier mothers (21%) was significantly higher than that in children in the general population in the area (1%) and more than 85% of mothers of carrier children were carriers. The breast milk of carrier mothers contained HTLV-I-infected cells and was infectious for marmoset via oral administration. A retrospective survey of children of carrier mothers showed that the prevalence of carrier children of carrier mothers was 17 (39%) of 44 and 0 (0%) of 10 when they were given breast milk only or formula only, respectively. These data provide a powerful basis for devising an intervention measure to block the endemic cycle of HTLV-I, ie, if carrier mothers refrain from breast-feeding, the incidence of ATLL will be significantly reduced some 50 years later.
Tsuji
Y
Y
Department of Pediatrics, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Japan.
Doi
H
H
Yamabe
T
T
Ishimaru
T
T
Miyamoto
T
T
Hino
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D015459:Leukemia-Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies