title: Respiratory and urinary tract infections, arthritis, and asthma associated with HTLV-I and HTLV-II infection.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Medicine and Epidemiology/Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, California 94118, USA. Murphy@itsa.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Edward L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Baoguang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ronald A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Sacher
authors.forename: Joy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fridey
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Catharie C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Nass
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: Helen E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Ownby
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garratty
authors.forename: Shelia T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Hutching
authors.forename: George B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Schreiber
mesh_terms: 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