Heterosexual Transmission of Human T Cell Leukemia/Lymphoma Virus Type I among Married Couples in Southwestern Japan: An Initial Report from the Miyazaki Cohort Study

Abstract

To identify factors that may modify the heterosexual transmission of human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-I), 534 married couples enrolled in the Miyazaki Cohort Study between November 1984 and April 1989 were studied: 95 husband HTLV-I-seropositive (H+)/wife seropositive (W+), 33 H+/W-, 64 H-/W+, and 342 H-/W-. After 5 years of follow-up, seven seroconversions occurred and clustered significantly among serodiscordant pairs (relative risk [RR] = 41.2); the rate of transmission was 3.9 times higher if the carrier spouse was male (P = .19). Among H+/W- couples, husband's age > or = 60 years strongly predicted seroconversion in the wives (RR = 11.5). All 4 carrier husbands whose wives seroconverted had HTLV-I titers > or = 1:1024 (P = .04) and were anti-tax antibody positive (P = .06). In cross-sectional analysis, total parity also was independently associated with wife's serostatus but only length of marriage with husband's. Overall, sexual transmission of HTLV-I was primarily from older infected husbands to their wives, with husbands' viral status being an important factor.

Sexual transmission of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1

“…The results of this study are in contrast to the fi nding of 2.5 transmissions/100py by Stuver et al 66 in a Miyazaki cohort of southeastern Japanese couples; however, Roucoux et al included a higher number of couples with HTLV-1 infections that were, on average, much older and in longer relationships (>360 vs. 72 months). Larsen et al 67 reported an overall HTLV prevalence of 3.6% (76 of 2,127 subjects) in an adult population living in urban areas in Guinea-Bissau, Africa, and the prevalence rates among men and women were 2.2% and 4.7%, respectively.…”

“…In addition, the epidemiology of HTLV, particularly its tendency to occur in clusters, has enabled the identifi cation of groups who are at risk for exposure, including injection drug users 34,56,59 , sex workers 50,[55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] , men who engage in intercourse with other men 52,53,56 , recipients of blood transfusions in Brazil before November 1993 63 , and sexual partners of known HTLV carriers [64][65][66] (Figure 2). …”

“…High HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 proviral loads have been reported to increase the risk of male-to-female HTLV-1 transmission [65][66]70 . In an investigation of blood donors and their stable heterosexual sexual partners, Kaplan et al reported higher circulating proviral loads among seroconcordant couples in which the male partner had most likely transmitted the virus to his female partner than among couples with non-transmitting male partners 70 .…”

“…In an investigation of blood donors and their stable heterosexual sexual partners, Kaplan et al reported higher circulating proviral loads among seroconcordant couples in which the male partner had most likely transmitted the virus to his female partner than among couples with non-transmitting male partners 70 . Stuver et al 66 studied 534 married couples with at least one HTLV-1-seropositive spouse. After fi ve years of follow-up, they reported that the age of seropositive husbands (up to 60 years) was an important factor for HTLV-1 transmission to wives, possibly because of an age-related increase in viremia.…”

Detección de virus linfotrópico de células T humano-I/II en pacientes con enfermedades de transmisión sexual de Santiago

“…A diferencia de otros integrantes de la familia viral, como el HIV, el HTLV-I es menos infeccioso y su transmisión suele requerir el contacto directo entre células 9 . La transmisión vía sexual ocurre de manera inadvertida para el paciente y existe una mayor prevalencia en mujeres, debido al mayor éxito de transmisión del hombre hacia la mujer, dada su fuerte asociación con las células que lo transmiten 10 . Es así como las experiencias clínicas demuestran que la transmisión del virus en matrimonios, requiere de una exposición prolongada por varios años para que ésta ocurra 10,11 .…”