Seroprevalence and Molecular Epidemiology of HTLV-1 Isolates from HIV-1 Co-Infected Women in Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

HTLV-1/HIV-1 co-infection is associated with severe clinical manifestations, marked immunodeficiency, and opportunistic pathogenic infections, as well as risk behavior. Salvador, the capital of the State of Bahia, Brazil, has the highest HTLV-1 prevalence (1.74%) found in Brazil. Few studies exist which describe this co-infection found in Salvador and its surrounding areas, much less investigate how these viruses circulate or assess the relationship between them. To describe the epidemiological and molecular features of HTLV in HIV co-infected women. To investigate the prevalence of HTLV/HIV co-infection in surrounding areas, as well as the molecular epidemiology of HTLV, a cross sectional study was carried out involving 107 women infected with HIV-1 from the STD/HIV/AIDS Reference Center located in the neighboring City of Feira de Santana. Patient samples were submitted to ELISA, and HTLV infection was confirmed using Western Blot and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Phylogenetic analysis using Neighbor-Joining (NJ) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) was performed on HTLV LTR sequences in order to gain further insights about molecular epidemiology and the origins of this virus in Bahia. Four out of five reactive samples were confirmed to be infected with HTLV-1, and one with HTLV-2. The seroprevalence of HTLV among HIV-1 co-infected women was 4.7%. Phylogenetic analysis of the LTR region from four HTLV-1 sequences showed that all isolates were clustered into the main Latin American group within the Transcontinental subgroup of the Cosmopolitan subtype. The HTLV-2 sequence was classified as the HTLV-2c subtype. It was also observed that four HTLV/HIV-1 co-infected women exhibited risk behavior with two having parenteral exposure, while another two were sex workers. This article describes the characteristics of co-infected patients. This co-infection is known to be severe and further studies should be conducted to confirm the suggestion that HTLV-1 is spreading from Salvador to surrounding areas.

Seroprevalence of HTLV in a Population of Hiv1-Infected Patients in Midwestern Brazil

“…These data was in accordance with those reported in HIV1-infected patients in Brazil in whom this HTLV1 subgroup is predominant 6 , 17 , 19 , 21 . …”

“…The prevalence of HTLV1 was 0.79%, six times higher than the percentage found in local blood donors (0.13%) (A G Kozlowski, unpublished data). Nevertheless, relative to other Brazilian data regarding HIV1-infected patients published between 2010 and 2015, this prevalence was lower than those reported in Piauí (1.12%) 6 , São Paulo (1.55%) 10 , Porto Alegre (1.9%) 9 and Feira de Santana, Bahia (3.74%) 17 . Differences in regional endemicity, ethnic origin of the population, risk behaviors and study designs are the possible reasons for these differences in the observed rates.…”

“…No case of HTLV2 infection was observed. Similarly, HTLV1 was also identified in the majority of HTLV/HIV1 coinfected patients in Piauí 6 , Porto Alegre 9 and Feira de Santana 17 , unlike those from São Paulo , where similar distribution of HTLV1 and HTLV2 was reported 10 . By contrast, some previous studies have demonstrated high HTLV2/HIV1 coinfection rates in Belém 18 , 19 , where HTLV2 infection is known to be endemic, as well as in Londrina 20 , Ribeirão Preto and São Paulo 21 where this coinfection was associated with IDU.…”

HTLV‐1 and ‐2 in a first‐time blood donor population in Northeastern Brazil: Prevalence, molecular characterization, and evidence of intrafamilial transmission

“…The prevalence of HTLV‐1 (0.59 per 1000; 95% CI: 0.38‐0.87) found in this study was in line with rates demonstrated for other blood donors in Brazil (0.2‐1.1 per 1000) . All HTLV‐1 isolates from this study were classified as belonging to the Transcontinental (A) subgroup of the Cosmopolitan (1a) subtype, highlighting that this subtype is endemic in Piauí, as well as in the whole country …”

Prevalence and genetic characterisation of HTLV-1 and 2 dual infections in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in Central-West Brazil

“…In addition, a fourth isolate (TB-152) was also classified as subtype HTLV-1a Transcontinental subgroup A following nucleotide sequence analysis of the orf -I gene (data not shown). This HTLV-1 subtype is endemic to all Brazilian regions (Martins et al 2010, Rego et al 2010, de Oliveira et al 2012, Magri et al 2012). …”