Evidence among blood donors for a 30-year-old epidemic of human T lymphotropic virus type II infection in the United States.
The demographic and geographic determinants of human T lymphotropic virus types I and II (HTLV-I and -II) are not well defined in the United States. Antibodies to HTLV-I and -II were measured in 1.7 million donors at five US blood centers during 1991-1995. Among those tested, 156 (9.1/10(5)) were HTLV-I seropositive and 384 (22.3/10(5)) were HTLV-II seropositive. In contrast to monotonously increasing age-specific HTLV-I seroprevalence, HTLV-II prevalence rose until age 40-49 years and declined thereafter, suggesting a birth cohort effect. HTLV-II infection was independently associated with an age of 40-49 years (odds ratio [OR], 12.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 8.8-18.9), female sex (OR, 3.3; 95% CI, 2.6-4.1), high school or lower education (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.3-2.1), hepatitis C seropositivity (OR, 25.0; 95% CI, 17.5-35.8), and first-time blood donation (OR, 3.6; 95% CI, 2.8-4.7). HTLV-II seroprevalence was highest at the two West Coast blood centers. These data are consistent with a 30-year-old epidemic of HTLV-II in the United States due to injection drug use and secondary sexual transmission and with an apparent West Coast focus.
Murphy
E L
EL
Department of Laboratory Medicine, UCSF Box 0884, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. murphy@labmed.ucsf.edu
Watanabe
K
K
Nass
C C
CC
Ownby
H
H
Williams
A
A
Nemo
G
G
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001782:Blood Donors; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies