Laboratory abnormalities in former blood donors seropositive for human T-lymphotropic virus types 1 and 2: a prospective analysis.
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.
Glynn
S A
SA
Westat Inc, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
Murphy
E L
EL
Wright
D J
DJ
Sacher
R A
RA
Fridey
J
J
Schreiber
G B
GB
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