title: Laboratory abnormalities in former blood donors seropositive for human T-lymphotropic virus types 1 and 2: a prospective analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The human T-lymphotropic viruses types 1 and 2 (HTLV-1 and HTLV-2) are highly prevalent among injection drug users in the United States. However, the clinical course of infection has not been well characterized.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To understand HTLV-1-and HTLV-2-associated laboratory abnormalities, which may provide insights into their underlying pathophysiology.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five US blood centers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 133 HTLV-1-and 332 HTLV-2-seropositive former blood donors and 717 HTLV-seronegative donors followed up prospectively since 1991.
  
  
  METHODS
  Selected serum chemistry tests and complete blood cell counts were analyzed at enrollment and approximately 2 years later in participants. Repeated-measures analyses were conducted to evaluate the effect of HTLV infection on laboratory measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with seronegative subjects, HTLV-1-seropositive subjects had 13% higher creatine kinase (P =.02) and slightly elevated lactate dehydrogenase (P =.03) levels at follow-up. The HTLV-2-seropositive participants had 11% higher absolute lymphocyte counts than seronegative subjects (P =.0001). Infection with HTLV-2 also appeared to be associated with slightly higher hemoglobin levels (P =.03) and hematocrit (P =.03) and with lower albumin levels (P =.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results further our understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying HTLV and suggest that HTLV-associated laboratory changes are unlikely to alter clinical evaluation or counseling of otherwise healthy HTLV-infected subjects.
authors.affiliation: Westat Inc, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Glynn
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Sacher
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fridey
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Schreiber
mesh_terms: D001771:Blood Banks; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D001782:Blood Donors; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000097:blood*; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000097:blood*; D006400:Hematocrit; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D010976:Platelet Count; D012016:Reference Values; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States