title: High prevalence of HTLV-I and HTLV-II among blood donors in Argentina: a South American health concern.
abstract: After an HTLV-I endemic area was discovered in Jujuy, a northwestern province in Argentina, to detect other possible foci of HTLV-I/II we started in 1997 a multicentric study to estimate the seroprevalence of HTLV-I/II including blood banks from different regions of the country. Out of 123,233 samples from nine different provinces, 68 proved seropositive with a final prevalence of 0.05% (95% CI = 0.0432-0.0704%). The seroprevalence ranged from 0.03 to 0.16% depending on the geographic location. An HTLV-I [odds ratio (OR) 12.7, 95% confidence interval (CI), 3.43-47.60] prevalence significantly greater was found in the northwest (Salta Province) and a nonsignificant but higher prevalence of HTLV-II in the North (Chaco). Two (0.001%) of the seropositive blood donors reported risk factors due to receiving transfusions and 19 (0.01%) were born in HTLV-I/II South American endemic areas. Although Argentina has been considered a nonendemic country for HTLV-I/II, the need for systematic screening for such infection became imperative based on the present study.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Referencia para el SIDA (CNRS), Departamento Microbiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Mirna M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Biglione
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Astarloa
authors.forename: Horacio E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Salomón
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D001782:Blood Donors; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies