The Prevalence of Human T-Cell lymphotropic Virus Type 1 in Pregnant Women and Their Newborns

Abstract

The prevalence of HTLV1 virus antibodies was determined in pregnant women and their neonates in Mashhad, northeast of Iran, as shown in this prospective cross-sectional study. 407 women who were hospitalized for delivery participated in this study. Venous blood sampling of pregnant women and umbilical cord of their neonates was done. The first samples of all women were tested for HTLV1 seropositivity by ELISA test and confirmed by PCR method. Then, the presence of HTLV1 in samples of umbilical cords blood in neonates who were delivered to an HTLV1-positive mother was determined by PCR method. All HTLV1-positive infants were called again at the age of 9–12 months, and PCR test was done using HTLV1-specific primers for them. Of all the participating women, 6 persons were HTLV1 seropositive by ELIZA test which was confirmed by PCR test. HTLV1 antibodies were found in cord blood samples by PCR test in 6 newborns who were born to HTLV1-seropositive women. All the six infants at the age of 9–12 months showed positive PCR results by HTLV1 LTR-specific primers; however, only one of them was PCR positive using HTLV1 TAX-specific primers. The prevalence of HTLV1 antibodies in pregnant women was 1.5%, and the vertical transmission rate to their neonates was 16.6%.

Risk factors associated with HTLV-1 vertical transmission in Brazil: longer breastfeeding, higher maternal proviral load and previous HTLV-1-infected offspring

“…For the first time in Brazil, in this study we simultaneously analyzed epidemiological, clinical markers, and maternal proviral load, for mother-to-child HTLV-1 transmission. The prevalence of concordant transmisson to the child was 14.2%, which was lower than found in countries such as Jamaica (18% to 22%) 21 , 22 , Peru (18%) 23 , Iran (16.6%) 24 , Gabon (17.5%) 25 , Martinique (27%) 26 , and Japan between 1986 to 1991 27 before implementing screening policies among pregnant women. In contrast, it was higher than in French Guiana (9.7%) 28 , and in Japan by the end of the 1990s (3.9%) 27 .…”

“…In fact, several studies reported that indicators of lower socioeconomic status, such as lower educational level and low income, are associated with HTLV-1 transmission 2 and to MTCT 2 , 34 , 35 . Transmission occurred regardless of the sex of the child, but this data is controversial, since some studies have associated a higher risk of transmission to males 23 or females 22 exposed children, whereas others found a similar transmission risk for boys and girls 24 , 27 , 28 , 30 , 36 , 37 . However, the small sample size is a limitation to influence the child infection from other factors, such as history of blood transfusion, cesarean delivery or maternal coinfection with HIV, HTLV-2, HBV or an association of HIV/HCV.…”

Current approaches for detection of human T‐lymphotropic virus Type 1: A systematic review

“…This is immunoassay and is a confirmatory method for the detection of antibodies to gag (p24) and env (gp46 and/or gp68) proteins of HTLV. The WB assay contains type-specific antigens, so it can be used to distinguish between infection with HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 and eliminate false-positive results (Hamedi et al, 2012).…”

Human T lymphotropic virus type 1 and risk of cardiovascular disease: High‐density lipoprotein dysfunction versus serum HDL‐C concentrations

“…A confirmatory test for HTLV1 antibody positive cases was undertaken using specific PCR primers as follows: TAX (5′ – AGGGTTTGG ACAGAGTCTT – 3′ and 5’-AAGGACCTTGAGGGTCTTA-3′) and LTR (5’-CATAAGCTCAGACCTCCGGG-3′ and 5′ -GGATGGCGGCCTCA GGTAGG-3′). If either of the two genes was present, the patient was confirmed to be infected with HTLV1 [20]. …”