title: Low prevalence of antibodies to human T-lymphotropic virus-I/II among blood donors in eastern Saudi Arabia.
abstract: The seroprevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV)-I/II was assessed in 13,443 consecutive blood donors in eastern Saudi Arabia between 1998 and 2001. Screening by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and confirmation by Western blot resulted in 8 (0.060%) positive cases, of which 5 (0.056%) belonged to Saudi and 3 (0.113%) to non-Saudi donors. The majority of the HTLV-positive donations (6/8) were for patients, and none had a history of known risk factor for HTLV-I/II transmission. Although the very low prevalence of HTLV-I/II among Saudi donors does not support routine screening, screening of donors from other nationalities may be initiated, especially those from HTLV-I/II endemic areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, King Faisal University, Damman, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Naglaa A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Fawaz
authors.forename: Hala
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tamim
authors.forename: Wassim Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Almawi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies