title: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I)-related clinical and laboratory findings for HTLV-I-infected blood donors.
abstract: Clinical and laboratory findings were examined for 111 human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I)-infected blood donors. HTLV-I provirus loads in subjects with a family history of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) or HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) tended to be higher than those in subjects without a family history of these conditions. There were 3 asymptomatic patients with ATL, 4 with a history of uveitis, 7 with hyperreflexia in the lower limbs, and 3 with urinary frequency in the night. The mean CD4 cell/CD8 cell ratio +/- SD was significantly lower (p<.0001) in subjects with hyperreflexia in the lower limbs (1.3 +/- 0.2) than in subjects without any clinical abnormalities (1.7 +/- 0.6), suggesting that subjects with hyperreflexia in the lower limbs already have some immunologic abnormalities. The concordance of HTLV-I infection between husband and wife was lower in this study than in a previous study. HTLV-I-related inflammatory symptoms were more frequent (p =.021, Fisher exact test; OR = 9.5; 95% CI, 1.7-53.5) in HTLV-I tax A-infected donors (3 [50%] of 6 donors) than in HTLV-I tax B-infected donors (10 [9.5%] of 105 donors), suggesting different risks of HTLV-I-related symptoms according to the virus genotype.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan. furukawy@m2.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Ryuji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Nobutaka
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eiraku
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Usuku
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Izumo
authors.forename: Mitsuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osame
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors; D016516:CD4-CD8 Ratio; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D005192:Family Health; D016355:Genes, pX; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D007866:Leg; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012021:Reflex, Abnormal / Q000276:immunology; D015229:Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral / Q000175:diagnosis; D018454:Spouses; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D014605:Uveitis / Q000175:diagnosis; D019562:Viral Load