Human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 in Zimbabwe.
Human T cell lymphotrophic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) causes myelopathy and adult T cell leukaemia. Knowledge of its distribution in Africa is limited. We performed HTLV-1 testing by enzyme immunoassay, with immunofluorescence assay confirmation, on 931 blood donors, 88 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seronegative patients with clinical features of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, 23 multi-transfused haemophiliacs, 8 patients with haematological malignancies, and 32 patients with neurological disease. One blood donor and 3 neurological patients, all 3 with spinal cord syndromes, were HTLV-1-seropositive. Two of the 3 HTLV-1-positive myelopathy patients were co-infected with HIV and both experienced unusually rapid progression of neurological disease. HTLV-1 is uncommon but can be associated with myelopathy in Zimbabwe.
University of Zimbabwe Medical School, Avondale, Harare.
S
S
Houston
C
C
Thornton
J
J
Emmanuel
A
A
Latif
D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D015030:Zimbabwe / Q000453:epidemiology