Respiratory and urinary tract infections, arthritis, and asthma associated with HTLV-I and HTLV-II infection.
Human T-lymphotropic virus types I and II (HTLV-I and -II) cause myelopathy; HTLV-I, but not HTLV-II, causes adult T-cell leukemia. Whether HTLV-II is associated with other diseases is unknown. Using survival analysis, we studied medical history data from a prospective cohort of HTLV-I- and HTLV-II-infected and -uninfected blood donors, all HIV seronegative. A total of 152 HTLV-I, 387 HTLV-II, and 799 uninfected donors were enrolled and followed for a median of 4.4, 4.3, and 4.4 years, respectively. HTLV-II participants had significantly increased incidences of acute bronchitis (incidence ratio [IR] = 1.68), bladder or kidney infection (IR = 1.55), arthritis (IR = 2.66), and asthma (IR = 3.28), and a borderline increase in pneumonia (IR = 1.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.98 to 3.38). HTLV-I participants had significantly increased incidences of bladder or kidney infection (IR = 1.82), and arthritis (IR = 2.84). We conclude that HTLV-II infection may inhibit immunologic responses to respiratory infections and that both HTLV-I and -II may induce inflammatory or autoimmune reactions.
Murphy
Edward L
EL
Laboratory Medicine and Epidemiology/Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, California 94118, USA. Murphy@itsa.ucsf.edu
Wang
Baoguang
B
Sacher
Ronald A
RA
Fridey
Joy
J
Smith
James W
JW
Nass
Catharie C
CC
Newman
Bruce
B
Ownby
Helen E
HE
Garratty
George
G
Hutching
Shelia T
ST
Schreiber
George B
GB
D000328:Adult; D001168:Arthritis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D001782:Blood Donors; D005260:Female; D018023:HIV Seronegativity; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology