title: Globin haplotypes of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I-infected individuals in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, suggest a post-Columbian African origin of this virus.
abstract: The city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, has sociodemographic characteristics similar to some African cities. Up to now, it has had the highest prevalence of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infection (1.74%) in the country. To investigate which strains of HTLV-I are circulating in Salvador, we studied isolates from 82 patients infected with HTLV-I: 19 from the general population, 21 from pregnant women, 16 from intravenous drug users, and 26 from patients and their family attending a neurologic clinic. Phylogenetic analysis from part of the LTR fragments showed that most of these isolates belonged to the Transcontinental subgroup of the Cosmopolitan subtype (HTLV-Ia). Only one sample from a pregnant woman was closely related to the Japanese subgroup, suggesting recent introduction of a Japanese HTLV-I lineage into Salvador. betaA-Globin haplotypes were examined in 34 infected individuals and found to be atypical, confirming the racial heterogeneity of this population. A total of 20 chromosomes were characterized as Central African Republic (CAR) haplotype (29.4%), 31 (45.6%) were characterized as Benin (BEN) haplotype, and 17 (25%) were characterized as Senegal (SEN) haplotype. Five patients' genotypes (14.7%) were CAR/CAR; 10 (29,4%), BEN/BEN; 9 (26.5%), CAR/BEN; 2 (5.9%), BEN/SEN; and 7 (20.6%), SEN/SEN. One patient's genotype (2.9%) was CAR/SEN. The betaA-globin haplotype distribution in Salvador is unusual compared with other Brazilian states. Our data support the hypothesis of multiple post-Columbian introductions of African HTLV-Ia strains in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.affiliation: Gonçalo Moniz Research Center, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luiz Carlos
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Alcantara
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Van Dooren
authors.forename: Marilda Souza
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kashima
authors.forename: Maria Cristina Ramos
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Fred Luciano Neves
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Achilea Lisboa
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bittencourt
authors.forename: Inês
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dourado
authors.forename: Antonio Andrade
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Filho
authors.forename: Dimas Tadeu
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Covas
authors.forename: Anne-Mieke
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Vandamme
authors.forename: Bernardo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Galvão-Castro
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000821:virology*; D006239:Haplotypes; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000145:classification*; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences
chemical_list: D005914:Globins