title: Laboratory test differences associated with HTLV-I and HTLV-II infection. Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study Investigators.
abstract: Reports of laboratory abnormalities associated with HTLV-I and HTLV-II infection are inconsistent. We assessed complete blood counts and selected serum chemistry measures at enrollment in a cohort of 153 HTLV-I-seropositive, 386 HTLV-II-seropositive, and 795 HTLV-seronegative blood donors. Linear and logistic regression were used to adjust for potential confounding variables including age, gender, race/ethnicity, education level, blood center, and injection drug use. Compared with seronegative donors, absolute lymphocyte counts were 6% and 10% higher, on average, in HTLV-I-infected (p = .03) and HTLV-II-infected (p = .0001) donors, respectively. HTLV-I- and HTLV-II-seropositive donors had, on average, 17,630 (p = .003) and 15,160 (p = .0005) more platelets, respectively. HTLV-I-infected donors also had an average of 30 fewer eosinophils/microl (p = .003) and a slightly higher level of lactic dehydrogenase (p = .05). HTLV-II-infected subjects had on average, an 11% decrease in creatine kinase (p = .006), a minor increase in mean corpuscular volume (p = .01), and a slightly lower serum calcium level (p = .0005). These results indicate that both HTLV-I and HTLV-II may raise levels of lymphocytes and platelets by unknown mechanisms. Lower eosinophil counts may be related to the increased susceptibility of HTLV-I-infected subjects to parasitic diseases.
authors.affiliation: University of California San Francisco 94143-0884, USA. murphy@labmed.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Glynn
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fridey
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sacher
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schreiber
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Luban
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis; D001782:Blood Donors; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000097:blood*; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires