title: Predominance of human lymphotropic T cell virus type 2 subtype B in urban populations of Argentina.
abstract: Human T-lymphotropic virus subtype b (HTLV-2b) infection has been described among aborigines from Northern Argentina, while HTLV-2a has been described in an injecting drug user (IDU) from a Central region, similar to the situation in Spain, the United States, and Brazil. In this study, 22 of the 26 strains analyzed from blood donors and HIV-1(+) individuals were HTLV-2b (84.6%) clustering with Amerindian references, while 4 HIV-1(+) (15.4%) were HTLV-2a. HTLV-2a sequences were closely related to Brazilian references in contrast to the previous Argentinean IDU strain that clustered with Africans and Amerindians from North America. In summary, these findings show that HTLV-2b is the major strain circulating in an urban population of Argentina. HTLV-2a/b could have been introduced from endemic South American countries such as Brazil and because of contact with other populations such as IDUs from Europe despite its introduction due to the increasing internal migration of aborigines to large urban centers. Considering this results and recent data about the dissemination of HTLV-1 in residents of Buenos Aires city, new studies among non-at-risk groups for HTLV-1/2 infection should be performed.
authors: Centro Nacional de Referencia para el SIDA, Departamento de Microbiología, Parasitología e Inmunología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. cberini@fmed.uba.ar
authors: Carolina A
authors: CA
authors: Berini
authors: Maria E
authors: ME
authors: Eirin
authors: Cecilia M
authors: CM
authors: Delfino
authors: Mercedes
authors: M
authors: Weissenbacher
authors: Mirna M
authors: MM
authors: Biglione
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001118:Argentina / Q000453:epidemiology; D001483:Base Sequence; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*