title: Prevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 carriers among pregnant women in Hokkaido, Japan.
abstract: As there is a risk of MTCT of HTLV-1, the HSGP HTLV-1 MTCT was organized in 2011. To determine how many pregnant women are infected with HTLV-1 in Hokkaido, which is the northernmost and the second largest island in Japan with a population of 5,467,000 and 39,392 newborns in 2011, the HSGP HTLV-1 MTCT asked all facilities that may care for pregnant women in Hokkaido in July 2013 to provide information on the number of pregnant women who underwent screening for anti-HTLV-1 antibody using particle agglutination or chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay, and the numbers of those with positive, equivocal, and negative test results in the screening and confirmation tests using western blotting or PCR methods in 2012, respectively. A total of 111 facilities participated in this study and provided information on 33,617 pregnant women who underwent screening in 2012, corresponding to approximately 85% of all pregnant women who gave birth in Hokkaido in 2012. Of 81 candidates for a confirmation test because of positive (n = 77) or equivocal (n = 4) results on screening, 63 (78%) underwent the confirmation test and, finally, 34 (0.1%) and 33,563 (99.8%) women were judged to be HTLV-1 carriers and non-carriers, respectively. It was concluded that the prevalence rate of HTLV-1 carriers was low, one per 1000 pregnant women in Hokkaido. Approximately 40 infants are born yearly to mothers infected with HTLV-1 in Hokkaido.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, N15W7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8638.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Takehiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Togashi
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsutsumi
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imamura
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okubo
authors.forename: Mihiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okabe
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takamuro
authors.forename: Kunio
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tashiro
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: Nagafumi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirakawa
authors.forename: Hisanori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Minakami
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D037841:Pregnant People; D015995:Prevalence; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies
keywords: adult T-cell leukemia; human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1); mother-to-child transmission; vertical transmission